Ground Support Worldwide - 18

COVER STORY

MAINTAINING
eGSE
your equipment in a software system to have
full knowledge of where assets are and other
data like in-service dates, warranty info and
maintenance needs.
"If the average meantime to failure is 41
days, and you have your maintenance check
set at 60, you're never going to design out
that failure. You need to put your preventative maintenance ahead of that failure,"
Agnor advises. "You can make some datadriven decisions."

Requirements for electric ground

Continuous Improvement

For example, notes Craig Ward,
operations director at TCR, GSE
maintenance personnel may carry out
a load test on a GPU during periodic
maintenance checks, but they would not
carry out these same tests on a dieselpowered belt-loader.

PM programs should be reviewed regularly
and adjusted as necessary.
TCR's Ward says understanding the
demands on the GSE unit and working out
a workable plan between ground operations and maintenance is the key. This can
be reviewed annually, although it is not
something that needs to be changed every
year unless the parameters of an operation
changes dramatically.
"Understanding your usage and operational demand is essential for better planning and an optimal maintenance program,"
Ward points out. "Limited downtime while
increasing reliability through better maintenance practices is the outcome you want
to achieve."
Cockburn of Avro GSE also recommends
an annual review of maintenance programs.
"Often stuff gets put into that program
and it just rolls. In the meantime, things
Photo courtesy of Global, a PrimeFlight company

as a huge enhancement, both on training
and tech tips and ways to improve the new
technicians."
The tech tip function is a collaborative
feature. If a technician is having trouble
with a piece of equipment and finds a favorable solution, that tech can publish instructions for other maintenance personnel to fix
similar issues. Agnor notes tech tips can be
shared privately within an organization or
made public to all EBIS users to benefit the
industry, as a whole.
Maintenance software can also track
productivity of technicians, too.
"Part of this is really understanding your
operation at a real granular level. It's really
big on technician cost and overall productivity - getting them the right part at the
right time," Agnor says. "We also want to
give them feedback on how well they're
performing maintenance."
Both telemetry and maintenance software can assist shop efficiency because of
the real-time data and predictive capabilities
provided.
"If you know you've got 10 pieces of
equipment that are 10 hours away from
that PM, then that affects your whole supply chain and your labor for doing that PM,"
Avro GSE's Cockburn notes.
"You get a view of what's coming," he continues, noting constraints in the shop can
be avoided. "Everything is pre-prioritized."
Agnor agrees, adding the key is to set up

18 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

MARCH 2020

support equipment may vary from
its diesel counterparts, but proper
maintenance must be performed
correctly to remain efficient.
By Josh Smith
There will always be differences
between types of ground support
equipment (GSE) and specific
maintenance requirements.

"Maintenance of GSE fleets requires
trainings and in-house experts," he
says.
Similarly, electric GSE has its own set of
requirements. But nevertheless, eGSE
must undergo a regular preventative
maintenance (PM) routine to operate at
peak efficiency.
"There is no engine on electric GSE,
but the battery still requires periodic
maintenance and checks," says Tom Kor,
national manager at Global Aviation
Services, which will be integrated
into the service network of its parent
company, PrimeFlight Aviation Services,
this year. "The rest of the PM program
can often be the same or similar to that
of a motorized asset."
"Electric GSE is not just changing when
we maintain or how we maintain, that's
a whole different way of maintaining,"
adds Wayne Cockburn, general
manager at Avro GSE. "The principle
is still the same though. You've got to
have your records, and you've got to
have your real-time connection to the
equipment."
All GSE, regardless of power source
or drivetrain, require ongoing
maintenance. The requirements
around electric vary in comparison as
they do not require the same level of
maintenance. So regular training is
advised.
"TCR's GSE technicians receive
continuous trainings to new
technologies for different brands and
different GSE class," says Ward. "Today,
about 70 percent of TCR's total tractor
fleet is electric."

Ground Support Worldwide

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