Buy Electronic Components

Reducing AOG times

For a distributor to excel in their role, everything must be right; component specifications, quality, price and delivery. And few circumstances demand this excellence more than when an aircraft is stranded on the ground awaiting vital components to restore airworthiness. This article looks at how Oracle Components has developed all the processes needed to successfully resolve situations such as these.

Anywhere in the world, and on any equipment, accidents happen and components fail. Buyers seeking parts to effect repairs are under considerable pressure to secure not only the components, but also a guarantee that they will perform reliably in their replacement role. The stress levels climb considerably if the equipment failure is on an aircraft, and is sufficiently serious to prevent clearance for flying.

Within both civil and military aviation environments, such situations are known as Aircraft On Ground or AOG. A grounded commercial aircraft threatens loss of earnings and reputation for its owners, while the consequences of a military AOG could be life-threatening if air cover becomes compromised.

Oracle Components is experienced in supporting aircraft maintenance organisations during AOG incident resolution. They have identified and overcome the barriers to delivering quality parts quickly. They realised that, firstly, they must have access to a very wide range of suppliers to maximise their chance of locating parts that can be obscure or obsolete. This must be complemented by excellent part searching tools to realise the potential of the wide supplier base. And, once the parts have been located, their quality must be assured and delivery to where they are needed must be expedited. A review of how Oracle handles a typical AOG incident shows how their response strategy actually supports a customer’s AOG team.

A commercial airliner can have 6 million parts, of which half are fasteners. These numbers mean that maintenance organisations are unlikely to have trading arrangements in place with all the suppliers that they potentially need. And if an organisation does identify a new supplier to fulfil an urgent part shipment, their attempts to purchase may be frustrated by their own QA approval procedure.
For these reasons, the first part of Oracle’s solution lies in their supplier base of over 5000 members. This base becomes immediately available to all Oracle customers, considerably increasing their potential for locating the parts they need.
For the AOG Team, this supplier potential can only be fulfilled if they can quickly identify the best supplier for the parts they need. Who can immediately supply the vital parts, and guarantee their specification? And, although pricing is not usually a prime factor in these circumstances, it has to be attractive as well.

The single solution to all these issues is Oracle’s PartSearch Toolbar. This is immediately accessible on the Oracle website homepage to search all component types – military and commercial, obsolete and current. Enter a generic part number such as ‘80286’ to see a list of different manufacturers’ versions, stock levels and date codes. More specific versions, such as ‘80286/10’ for a 10MHz part, can be selected if available. Clearly, the 80286 is an obsolete part, yet stocks can be located in seconds. And, access to the toolbar itself can be further simplified. A click on the Oracle website will install the toolbar as a browser header component, ready for use at any time.
The toolbar is used to specify a precise list of target components and pricing; this can then be forwarded to the account management team within Oracle’s Harlow offices. They acknowledge receipt within five minutes and review next actions to be taken.

For example, if the components are within another country or continent but urgently needed during the AOG incident, Oracle can arrange local payment for immediate release. They also advise on the steps they have taken to assure the components’ quality. This quality standard is preserved during processing to the customer as Oracle itself is ISO 9001:2000 registered. Once the goods have been cleared from the supplier’s premises, Oracle can maintain the onward momentum by expediting direct to where they are needed – at the airfield where the aircraft is located. Alternatively, Oracle can consolidate a set of incoming components from different suppliers into a single managed shipment to the AOG team.

This delivery marks the completion of Oracle’s immediate support for the AOG incident, but further help is available if appropriate. For example the aircraft operator may decide on a scheduled upgrade to his entire fleet, replacing the component that caused the first incident. Oracle can shield the operator from future component availability or pricing issues by assembling stock immediately, then holding it on allocation and ready for call-off as needed.

Oracle Components’ resource is ideal for aircraft operators planning a strategic response to AOG incidents, because it’s so comprehensive. Their supplier database, possibly unique in size, maximises the chances of component location for both obsolete and current military and commercial parts. The online parts search toolbar exploits this location potential quickly and efficiently; Oracle’s local finances, logistics and quality control get the right goods to where they are needed, fast.

For further information please contact the sales team 08450 22-23-24