Maintenance Checks
 

My understanding is they used spend 48 hours on B checks, now reduced to 22 hours .......................... so what other maintenance is being reduced here at Purple ? Also, seems that Feds are turning the other cheek. The FSR reports seem to back up what I am hearing on time and money spent on maintenance. What say you ???

B check times
 

MD10 B checks were condensed from 48 hrs to 30 hrs by taking some C-check cards out of the B checks and improving work processes. 757 B checks were 12 hrs. from the beginning. 727 were reduced to 24 hrs by using those same improved workflow processes.

Same amount of maintenance, just moved some of it to other checks or different times.

jetmech1,

Your response, while straight-forward and sensible, can't possibly be correct, because here on APC, at least on the vast majority of FedEx threads, there either has to be some doom and gloom, or at a minimum, a good conspiracy theory.

So I'd recommend you rethink your answer and come back with something like: Yes, the inspections have been reduced from 48 hours to 22 hours, because the company finally decided to use the older, wiser mechanics to do these inspections. They found that not only did the older guys do a better job than the younger ones, they also made less errors than the younger mechanics, and there was much less whining. I understand the company is scouring the old age homes for retired mechanics.:D

JJ

Nothing wrong with the new system. C checks are shorter too, but the quality is the same or better.

Fedex maintenance is the best in the business. That's how the company makes money.

So how does anyone explain 48 work hours reduced to 22 work hours for a B CHECK, and the maintenance is "better" ??? I beg to differ, you can't have it both ways.
Save money = less maintenance being performed unless there is a NEW way to account for $$$ spent.

I'm sure the Feds would go for "less maintenance". You can't modify your maintenance program without Feds approval. Just because a B check was allowed 48 hrs, doesn't mean it took 48 hrs to complete. Time was built in for parts issues and C check work. sometimes B checks are done in 20 hours or less, but they are still allotted 30 hrs. just in case. We have the best maintenance in the world!!! Our on time guarantee proves this.

Not to dispute the quality of the maintenance, but it begs a different question ................... How much of the work is "vendored out" versus what is actually accomplished on company property ? Is it plausible that the reduced hours for maintenance checks is a correlated to vendor work ? There has to be a better explanation than just making claims a la bragadochio. Interesting to also note, that there has been a reduction in force of qualified mechs. on the property for the past several years, a good example of using ASA personnel to do the pushbacks and marshalling.

I would imagine the mx guys could answer this better, but my understanding of the reduction of time is because of the LEAN principles they have been added the past few years.

As far as vendors go, I have heard they are reducing vendors, due to the fact that they have become more efficient and our guys can do the work cheaper.