april2022 - 22

Cover Story
not just by the numbers but by reliability
assessment.
" This should be a decision that is
made asset specific. What I mean by
that is that you can have a hybrid
system that leases the more complex,
critical assets - cargo loaders, heavy
tractors, GPUs, etc. - on a full-service
maintenance basis while having
an in-house shop that can conduct
basic maintenance and repair tasks
on less critical and complex assets, "
Gendron says.
In order to accurately assess its
in-house maintenance capabilities, it is
most important to review the current
cost of a fleet's maintenance side-byside
with the service levels provided,
advises Ingle.
" Is your fleet being maintained proactively?
Is there any negative impact to
your operations as a result of fleet maintenance? "
Ingle asks. " We also can't
ignore the current labor market, and the
difficulties and increased cost of both
hiring and retaining talent. "
Training on the equipment must be
the primary focus of in-house maintenance,
Gendron emphasizes. While
many technicians come to the airfield
with some sort of broad experience,
they can also exhibit bad habits.
" Standardizing the maintenance
process and documenting processes is
paramount to successful uptime and
keeping the process moving forward.
It also allows for someone to step in
and duplicate what has happened with
that unit, " Gendron says. " Documentation
must be precise and analyzed in
order to run a lean, successful maintenance
operation. "
The parts costs associated with
maintenance of equipment must all
be assessed to determine whether
outsourcing is the right choice, and
parts supply and timing must be evaluated
as well.
" Knowing your annual parts spend
and what you need in stock for each
asset category is crucial. In larger fleets
this requires a parts manager or specialist,
which is additional overhead, "
Gendron says.
In some cases, a ground service
provider may keep some maintenance
tasks in house and outsource other
maintenance work. Occasionally you
can have a situation where either due
to staffing shortages or skill levels GSE
maintenance could be outsourced,
Gendron says.
" There are instances where handlers
with their own shop farm out maintenance
issues on a case-by-case basis to
third-party providers, " he adds.
" Looking for specialized services
while keeping costs lower or flat when
performing maintenance outside of your
expertise is something to be considered, "
says Manny. " For example, ground
power units can be difficult to repair
and maintain. If your staff are experts
on engine repairs, but weak on generator
repairs, looking for an experienced gen
shop would help to get the best overall
maintenance process for a GPU. "
Having technicians working within
their areas of expertise can result in
improved and timelier maintenance.
" Each shop is different even within
the same company, " Manny adds. " Airports
are also different and often do not
have space for ground handlers to have
their own shops at every location. "
When an operation requires maintenance
for both a motorized and
non-motorized fleet, or when an operation
requires specialized assets, a combination
of insourced and outsourced
maintenance may be utilized.
" It is very common for a provider to
look at their maintenance needs on an
airport-by-airport basis due to the differences
within each market, including
fleet size, fleet complexity, labor market
and number of other factors that may
drive the complexity of a maintenance
operation, " Ingle notes.
The scale of an operation can play a
role in making maintenance decisions.
" For example, you're in a station
and you have such a big operation and
there's two workshops available and you
cannot fit everything into one - and one
is your own workshop and the other is
an outsourced workshop, " points out
Vanpoucke. " In some stations we're not
present and the scale is just too small to
start up, so they keep that in-house at
that smaller station. "
However, Vanpoucke adds, having
two or three maintenance providers
within one station may not be ideal
because maintenance may be conducted
using different systems and provide
varying dashboards and key perforAssets
such as cargo
loaders can be complex
and technicians with
specific cargo loader
experience are becoming
more difficult to find.
22 || Ground Support Worldwide || April 2022
mance indicators (KPIs).
" And then you typically end up
having a lack of visibility, " he says.
" That's the thing you often want to
achieve. If you want to go with an
outsourced provider, especially across
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april2022

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