Delta Airlines Real-Time Scheduling Implementation

Delta’s aircraft engineering and maintenance team, Delta TechOps, needed to improve performance of engine repair and component maintenance; the business unit struggled to have a steady supply of spares engines available for flight operations; since cash was limited, buying or leasing additional engines was out of question.

For John Laughter, Sr. VP or TechOps, the only viable option was to repair and return the engines to operations faster by reducing queues, wait times and delays inside the repair and maintenance shops. Laughter knew that the world of maintenance and repair was too dynamic to be managed efficiently with manual planning & scheduling. So, when Realization introduced their Real-Time Scheduling software to them, it didn’t take long for them to decide to implement it.

Just as quickly as they decided, Real-Time Scheduling proved itself with unprecedented results. Engine parts were flowing through the repair shops 70% faster. Engine production increased by 23%, and Delta monetized $60M by reducing the number of spare engines. Next, Delta TechOps expanded Real-Time Scheduling to Atlanta base maintenance, the largest maintenance facility within Delta. Success again! Not only did they reduce turnaround times (TAT) but also increased productivity by 35%. Finally, Delta TechOps overcame the line maintenance challenge with Real-Time Scheduling. Result: a 62% reduction in maintenance-based cancellations, down from 29 cancellations per day to just 11 in the peak summer season.

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This is how Real-Time Scheduling was applied in each area:

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ENGINE LINE SOLUTION For the engines the challenge was how to synchronize hundreds of parts flowing through the repairs shops and across their shared resources. The first step was to create a master schedule of when engines needed to be produced, and tie that to the parts for each engine. Real-Time Scheduling would do the rest. It would not only optimize the delivery schedules based on constraints, but also keep the repair lines and shops optimized even as delays and changes happened. It would make sure parts were being worked on rather than sitting in queue on a shelf; more importantly, resources were working on the right parts at the right time instead of just trying to stay busy.

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BASE MAINTENANCE SOLUTION For the base maintenance division, Real-Time Scheduling meant the maintenance schedules and visits were in synch at an aggregate level, and upfront disassembly and inspections as well as reassembly on the backend could be completed as fast as possible – to create enough gap in between for ordering/ obtaining long-lead parts.

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LINE MAINTENANCE SOLUTION In line maintenance, schedules were modified to be flexible and real-time rather than trying to follow rigid schedules and perform scheduled maintenance only on (or after) the expiry dates.

The additional challenge in line maintenance was the supply chain problem. Instead of guessing where parts would be needed and stocking large amounts of “just-in-case” inventory in each location, Real-Time Scheduling allowed Delta to operate with a central inventory stock in Atlanta (for the entire US) – only the parts that were needed to support dynamic maintenance schedules were shipped to the repair stations, and the just-in-case stock at repair stations was leaned out to only support the “open and inspect” surprises.

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BUSINESS RESULT Delta has the largest comprehensive MRO in North America and with Real-Time Scheduling not only does it support Delta’s flight operations (a whopping 780 aircraft responsible for 2,500 departures a day) but is also generating revenues of $500 million every year, with eyes set on turning it into a billion-dollar business in the near term.

Delta’s enterprise-wide adoption is another example of how more and more companies around the world are using Real-Time Scheduling across the board for unprecedented business impact.

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