TOULOUSE—As the aircraft and engine MRO business becomes more sophisticated, professional aerospace societies are exploring closer links with airlines and MRO providers to help advance technology and foster engineering talent.
To promote the initiative, the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) and its sister spinoff organization, the International Society of Air Breathing Engines (ISABE), are widening plans “to bring MRO into congress” says ICAS president, Dimitri Mavris.
“We're not producing as many engineers as we really are going to need,” Mavris says. “So if you start to think about all the people who work internationally that I can elevate and then link to my network, then they can become part of the human supply chain.”
Linking ICAS and ISABE with the growing scope of global MRO operations could open a mutually beneficial two-way street to an untapped source of engineering talent, Mavris says. “When you go to the smaller countries, there is almost no participation [in professional societies] and yet there is always an enthusiasm to do aeronautics. They all have airlines, they all have airports and they all have MRO businesses.”
Although “universities always looked down their noses at MRO as technician stuff, mechanics, not university-level work, things have changed,” Mavris says, speaking to Aviation Week on the sidelines at the ISABE conference here in Toulouse.
“Turbomachinery is very difficult to analyze. Now fast forward a little bit, and you have sensors, so now it's not just hardware, it's hardware and software. Now you start thinking cyber physical systems and you must have sensors. Where will I put those sensors? If it's a hot section, I cannot measure that, so I must infer it. Now you have elevated thinking, and you start talking about predicting the life of a component, create a digital twin, digital engineering, big data analytics, machine learning and [artificial intelligence],” Mavris says.
There is currently very little MRO-related content at ICAS/ISABE technical conferences, but Mavris says the engine OEM and maintenance industry would mutually benefit from greater involvement and collaboration at these events. “You can bring in all these countries in by saying you don't have design manufacturing, but you have MRO. We're going to help you become a better MRO. We can elevate your understanding of all these concepts so you can be more competitive in this market.”
Mavris thinks this might be achieved by the creation of short courses at universities, and the addition of extra days at ISABE or other related events.
The need for greater involvement with the MRO community will also grow as propulsion systems become more integrated with next-generation airliners and advanced hybrid power concepts turn to reality. “That stuff cannot be uncoupled anymore, and it would give the MRO technical people a venue to go to every year.”
The process will be gradual, he adds. “You start creating content, you call for papers for the conferences, short courses and invited lectures by people in that area. Then you bring in MRO providers to tell us what their issues are. You bring in airports and the airlines. There's going to be some pushback, but we are not telling the existing people there is no room for you anymore. We're telling them, you have your swim lane, but we need additional swim lanes.”