The Big Merged QF Engineering Thread

[acslame]

well it looks like dc and his band of merry men are getting there come uppence!
all the lies they have been telling and "rubbery figures" they have been throwing around are starting to be shown for the lies they are.
It seems that the board and fleet managers are starting to ask questions that DC and MH can't answer .
It appears that having no spare engines, a lack of tech services available in all trades when required, no spare parts, a shortage of license coverage, no AME,s and a serious lack of heavy maintenance slots have started to take its toll on fleet reliability !
Well suprise , suprise!
With all your fast talking and promises it turns out that the only ones that didn't understand the business was YOU.
Every change you brought in didn't make us more efficiant just more expensive!
All your talk of strategy maps and staff suggestions are all BULL****.
Now, when their jobs are on the line they have set up a " special crew " in syd to be on call to be able to hit potential delays!
Wow isn't that great! we have quality issues coming out our asses , more delays than ever and nothing happens until their jobs are on the line!
Funny how money is avail now.
Its just a shame that we don't have access to the board because i would
love to get them in a room full of DMM,s and senior LAMES and let them tell the board what is going on and show them what frauds they have running engineering.
I really hope that eng management get whats coming to them because they have a lot to answer for.
The real shame here is that we told them what was going wrong and
how to save money but they refused to listen because they knew the business and we didn't !
Good on ya DC , job well done! who are you going to blame now

[QFinsider]

Fiduciary duty would imply it goes higher than Engineering but we know how highly the Corporations Act is regarded...:(

I just hope there isn't an accident!

[MELKBQF]

The reliability of the 747 fleet seems to be pretty ordinary since SYD Heavy Maintenance was closed down.

[AEROMEDIC]

It's much more than fiduciary duty.
GD has a lot to answer as well in trying to sell a bad deal to the share holders. A person in his position must have the best assessment of the value of the company known to him when any offer comes along. :uhoh:
All the principles of programs like Lean sigma have been put time and time again by staff to management .....FOR FREE!!! and they they don't listen, so off they go spending tens millions of dollars on Lean Sigma to do the same.:ugh:
As for Avalon Heavy Maintenance, with good LAMEs' and AME's jumping ship, the clock is ticking before all the work goes OS. :mad:

[QFinsider]

I can assure you as someone who straps their ass to a 400 for a living, there are plenty more MELs. The scary bit is that many of the Captains I fly with are from a different day, where all the T's were crossed and the i's dotted.

Surely though, according to Dixon it is imperative to drive down the cost base. Whether this causes a hull loss is incidental as the P&L looks better in the years before the accident. I often wonder whether the "institutions" who support his one trick pony show would feel the same if their family was on the one that doesn't actually get there :(

Look through the numbers people!!

[QFinsider]

Oh aero,

Don't start me on what he has to answer for...

He was in APA up to his slimy neck.

[employes perspective]

as a former Syd Heavy Maint Lame i'm so glad this is happening,and before any of you have a go at me,it's a shame that you didn't have the guts to stand up for us when this was happening,Howrah to the death of aircraft maintenance is Australia,long live Asia

[domo]

shame that you didn't have the guts to stand up for us when this was happening

where was the leadership on this I would gladly sat on the grass for an issue as important as the closure of phase checks

[Talkwrench]

The ongoing QF LAME EBA negotiations are where the company has the opportunity to start afresh with their lames. There is expectation, make no mistake. Ian, Dennis, Sue - its up to you. You need to accept change and adapt. You need to come out of pity city and cross the bridge of trust. You need to remain competitive in the global economy by securing the experience, skill and dedication of the staff.

[QF MAINT OUTSOURCED]

what a cop out DOMO,do you think the hero's in servicing would of walked,spineless the lot of them,i heard a lot of sorry to see you go,but not one let's take action:eek:

[domo]

what a cop out DOMO

how many meetings were organised by the alaea, what options were placed on the table.I feel the union worries about the small picture and ignores the big issues.
Whats more important 3% pay rise and improved travel allowances
or stopping a mate being compulsary dismissed against his will

[wingers]

i think that you are all raving on about nothing, you would all be better served with getting on and doing your jobs...

[AEROMEDIC]

Absolutely...... He even admitted derelection of duty to arrange the APA details.
Yet shareholders quietly accepted this......
If I had done a similar thing in my course of work, the gallows would have erected in record time.
As for "the bottom line", Dixon expects everyone to swallow his retoric about tightening belts and becoming "leaner". Record profits aren't enough and will seek to put blame on those that have responsible practices if there is any shortfall of targets.:*

[AEROMEDIC]

Apart from these words, a response to Wingers comment is a waste of effort:ugh:

[wingers]

Not sure what you mean, are you refering to the lack of effort buy a small amount of unsatisfied LAME'S

[Hardworker]

Well the Dispatch reliability of the Qantas fleet is terrible....management are wondering why? They must be so thick! Have been telling them for ages we are under staffed/under licenced and this "New World" for Engineering just isnt working....MEL Hold items increasing - delays and expiring MELs dropping dead on transit aircraft - lack of spares....So what do they do?
Temporary Unlimited overtime....
And just when the SIT managers position doesnt look good due to his absolute no idea on what goes on or how to manage, they take him to Base Servicing to Manage that area and "Big Kev" is setup as the fixer for Dispatch Reliability...Talk about setting someone up for a fall....
Old Murray likes to protect his boys....the old "Qantas POD" principle - "Promote out of Danger"
Well it seems to little to late - Engineering have been telling Qantas Engineering management for the past 18months that this "New World" isnt working - but they dont listen.....
Arrrrrh the New Intelligent Space Motto....

Bonus before Safety and Schedule

[soldier of fortune]

how many more threads of the same topic do we have to have

[AEROMEDIC]

The great thing about forums like this is the information that comes from diverse areas not usually communicated to all.
If there is still something that someone can add to a topic that is current, I say why not ........ even if one should disagree with it.
So, perhaps if the "piper is still to be paid" then let's see who will "ante up".
It's also interesting to find QA management perusing the site from time to time and seeing their point of view, as they might not hear some of the facts at their workplace.

[woderwick]

Rumour has it, that Qantas is in the final stages of recruiting some engineers from the Philippines to work in their heavy maintenance facilities, Brisbane in particular. Now I can understand if there was an absolute shortage of engineers, Qantas would have to do something drastic such as this. But the fact of the matter is, people are LEAVING up in Brisbane. The reason for this is the inability of Qantas to pay a decent wage to it's employees, whilst parasites like Dixon and the board have their noses in the trough. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/sbs/

[U.K. SUBS.]

Not too sure about Brisbane Wod. but Forstaff this week have been recruiting for the classic c check to start this Jan coming. They have also intimated at these interviews that the 'possibility of PR' will be offered if the candidate is suitable. Rumour has it also that the classics will have to have the section 41 termination, (from memory the full 9 zone) carried out due to QF's unconfirmed conversations with Billy Boeing with delivery problems a la 787.Seems this flight test and delivery program is out the window......now where are all those engineers that I need?.:E

[The Mr Fixit]

The Forstaff ship sails into Tulla on monday :=

all mercenaries aboard I'm told but only one LAME among them mmmmm now I'm suspicious either the LAMEs are no longer spineless or this deals stinks to high heaven :eek:

what are the allowances are they award ?

[QFinsider]

The pooorly crafted yet widely "spun" tapestry is beginning to unravel across the company....

Scary thing is management think J* will fix any ill!

[AEROMEDIC]

The allowances are not as per the agreement. In fact, Qantas and Forstaff have offered less than the agreement to go to Tulla. The Forstaff EBA is specific in the terms to apply in this case and yet less is offered because they feel that the agreed rate is too much.
The staff going to Tulla must be really keen to escape working at Avalon. The offered rate is kicked up to a sizable amount if you live at Geelong as it's boosted by a travelling allowance, so most of those going live at Geelong or Lara.
What is ludicrous is that the ALAEA and the AWU has told them that they are being underpaid, yet these bunnies accept less anyway.
So begs the question. Why would anyone undermine the agreement by accepting less than the agreed rate? The answer is that they are not members of any union and don't care what happens at any establishment, just so long as they get THEIR money (which will gradually reduce as the managements get their way).:confused:

[employes perspective]

how many of these are from across the ditch,i'd bet most if not all.

[K9P]

I feel that Qantas Engineering Management and those above perceive those on the hangar floor with maintenance skills as a necessary evil which drives down their profits, and therefore look on those people with utter contempt.
In my humble opinion, they thought they could successfully de-skill Qantas Engineering and find slots for their aircraft O/S.
This of course backfired, due to a lack of experience in aviation planning, we all know that new aircraft never meet their target delivery date, so you have to keep maintaining your old crates.
Then there's training for the new aircraft. When is that all going to happen?
There's my two cents worth....................

P.S. One of the Planning Managers from Qantas came down to Avalon and gave a presentation for their Exell Award, he told us that he received an e-mail from "Geoff" to say how well we had done, presented a couple of LED booklamps and we all got an apple, apiece of mudcake and, wait for it, a biscuit in it's own special little box. If that ain't contempt......What is?

[No SAR No Details]

Luxury
All we ever got in Sydney Heavy was a box of donuts to share.
We used to dream of an apple and mudcake!
And a biscuit was beyond our wildest dreams.

In the end all we got was in fact DONUT.

[nomorecatering]

The demise of QF heavy engineering started as far back as 1998 when PAcer and SUPERQIK were shutdown and replaced with CAMSYS. Av part of the process, the production planning dept on M189/1 was disbandoned.

These guys had up to 40 years experiance and knew intimately what was going to be needed for any phase check, and with consultation of the relevent engineers meant there were allways the required parts on the shelf, WHEN they were needed. Stores allways carried enough parts in stock to enable aircraft to get out in time.

When production planning in SYD was disbandoned in 98, it was sent down to Melbourne where unskilled clerks did the same job, none had any aircraft or aviation knowledge.

The results speak for them selves.

I was there from 90 to 98.