Much attention has been given to new opportunities to make aircraft design and operation more carbon neutral. In October 2007, the European Commission announced the results of the first call for research projects in aeronautics and air transport under the EU Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7). Awards totaling €217 million were given to 36 innovative projects ranging from alternative fuels to advances in self-repairing capability for aircraft materials, to improvements in the composition and design of fuselages to cut assembly time and reduce structural weight.
There is no question that many recently launched initiatives have helped move the aviation industry towards a more carbon-neutral footprint. Today, more fuel-efficient engines power the latest planes; lighter materials like composites on the new 787 require less fuel; tiny winglets on the tips of aircraft wings improve aerodynamic efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by up to 5%.
An A320 recently flew with a fuel cell to drive on-board equipment, thereby reducing aircraft fuel burn. And on February 28, 2008, a Virgin Airlines Boeing 747 flew from London to Amsterdam with one of its four engines burning a mixture of 80 per cent jet fuel and 20 per cent oil from naturally grown plants. British Airlines has adopted new taxi strategies, continuous descent approaches, and gate push-back policies that reduce carbon emissions. The list goes on.
Going “green” is no longer just an option. It’s essential for the entire aviation industry, MRO included. Yet the industry is just starting to consider MRO as an opportunity to develop more environmentally progressive practices and processes. As noted by Per Noren, director of environmental strategy for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services, in the January 2008 issue of Aviation Week’s Overhaul and Maintenance, “figuring out the aviation MRO footprint so progress can be measured is a logical first step for the aftermarket industry to take collaboratively.”
Environmentally progressive MRO means everything from increasing fuel efficiency via smoother aircraft services and engine washing programs to disposing of front-line maintenance fluids properly, and recycling parts and materials as appropriate. While many environmental initiatives are underway in the aviation industry, however, MRO is only now gaining the attention it warrants.
In thinking about implementing environmentally progressive MRO practices and processes, a range of approaches are being considered by the industry.
Reduction of Hazardous Chemical Use. The replacement of hazardous chemicals with more environmentally friendly chemicals is a first step that many MROs are taking. Painter strippers containing methylenechloride are being replaced with biodegradable, non-hazardous strippers; and halogenataed hydrocarbons used for de-greasing and cleaning are being replaced by other friendlier solvents. In one MRO organization, the chrome plating process is being replaced with a newer coating process that uses a more friendly high-velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) whenever possible.
Eliminating Waste in Work Processes. Lean is a set of principles for continuous improvement of operations in order to provide the customer with a superior product with minimum waste (time and money). When applied to line maintenance, lean initiatives have resulted in reductions in cycle times for C-checks. In component maintenance, co-location of parts and tools has resulted in cycle time reductions and productivity jumps.
Environmental Management Systems. Many large companies today such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble are encouraging their suppliers to report on greenhouse gas emissions and show what steps they are taking to combat global warming and to reduce their carbon footprint. This information becomes part of an environmental management system that can trace the carbon footprint across the supply chain. ISO 14001 is a tool that MRO can adopt to promote environmentally progressive processes and operations.
Green Supply Chains. Environmental issues are also starting to influence the global supply chain. The decisions that MROs make about where their parts are sourced and distributed has environmental implications relevant to warehouse location, inventory policy, and choice of transport mode. Many industries are looking at reducing the amount of goods that move longer distances, as well using more efficient alternatives to road transport.
Environmentally Progressive MRO Facilities. Energy consumption is one of the biggest issues for MRO facilities. A 400,000-square-foot hangar consumes about 1 million kilowatt hours per month. During initial design, consideration can be given to reducing energy demand through design-based initiatives. Post construction, other initiatives can be taken to improve environmental performance. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is rapidly becoming the standard for environmentally friendly and highly energy-efficient buildings in many industries, including aviation.
While there are many possibilities for implementing more environmentally progressive MRO operations, there are many issues that Boeing (and your team!) must consider in choosing the path forward. There are clear trade-offs among many of these issues. Some of these issues include:
Long-term versus Short-term Impact. While public pressures may suggest that any solution have a clear, short-term impact, many solutions may have longer-term, more sustainable solutions. Solutions must be considered within an overall implementation strategy and plan for sustainability.
Incremental or Radical Innovation. Many innovations today are incremental innovations that involve small, well-defined and evolutionary changes to an existing product or process whose impact can be quickly evaluated. On the other hand, radical innovations have a high-level of uncertainty associated with them, especially in the early stages. However, radical innovations tend to have a higher return, or impact, when they are successful.
Return-on-Green-Investment. While many environmentally progressive innovations have upfront costs of adoption and implementation, these investment costs can be returned to the company in other ways. For example, lean initiatives result in lower inventories and process times which reduce other costs (and resource requirements and waste!) throughout the organization. Today, return-on-investment is seen as an important driver for adopting environmentally progressive initiatives. But it is still necessary to build a business case and many of the costs are unknown—as well as the impacts.
Ease of Implementation. Changes in organizational processes or information systems associated with new initiatives often require retraining of personnel or other changes in internal processes that can be difficult to implement quickly and cost-effectively. Some of these changes, if they affect how people do their daily jobs, may conflict with corporate culture.
Scope of Solution. As mentioned above, the MRO business includes many different types of activities. Rather than choose a solution that spans the entire organization, an alternate strategy might be to choose a solution that impacts only a portion of the MRO organization, but has the potential for a larger and quicker impact.
As you develop your response to The 2008 Boeing Shanghai Challenge, think about the above issues and trade-offs. The criteria that Boeing will use to evaluate the entries include the creativity of your solution, its technical feasibility, the depth and completeness of your analysis and the clarity of your presentation.
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