MRO Americas, Orlando, Fl: Lufthansa Technik (LHT) has launched Aviatar, which it describes as “an innovative and holistic platform that offers an extensive variety of digital products and services for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) by combining multiple apps, web-based, and in one place”.
The product – officially launched at MRO Americas by LHT’s chairman of the Executive Board, Dr Johannes Bussmann in his presentation on “The Digitalization of MRO” – is the first product from the company’s new Digital Fleet Solutions division.
“Imagine a future world where you can monitor your entire fleet at a glance, check the conditions of your components in real time, prevent failures before they occur, have the solution in the place when needed, while your supply chain perfectly matches your demand with no paper recording necessary. That’s what Aviatar is,” Bussmann explained.
The system is an open platform, work on which began 18 months ago. “By being open, all players are invited to contribute cutting-edge services,” Bussmann added, noting that the interplay of growing number of apps will often deliver savings in single or double digit millions of dollars, but when added up they become truly significant.
For those concerned about showing all their data, Bussmann highlighted the data restrictions existing in Europe will have to be met. “An operator can define which data it really wants to share. We believe that if you get much that helps you, then you might be more willing to make of your own data more available,” he remarked.
Bussmann went on to emphasise the importance of bridging the digital–physical gap in the supply chain. “If I were an operator, it would not help me to know what is going to break if I cannot get the right part at the right time,” he stressed.
Right now there are seven apps on the Aviatar platform, including the first third-party app comes from FLYdocs. “Three of those – condition monitoring, fault analytics and predictor plug-ins – will give you all the information needed for predictive maintenance,” reported Peter Isendahl, LHT’s head of innovations for VIP and special mission aircraft. “Condition monitoring is the bass for predictive maintenance.”
The company spent a great deal of time how to present the information to the user, which has resulted in a “very intuitive” screen at the front end.
The acceptance of third-party apps is completely open. “We don’t restrict anything and competitors are not blocked. We simply expect that they follow data privacy rules,” said Dr Christian Langer, vice-president, Digital Fleet Solutions.
Langer even confirmed that if a third party came along with an app which was similar to one on which Lufthansa Technik was working, the former would not be blocked. “Because Aviatar is modular, it will be up to the customer to choose which app they prefer to use,” he commented.
Backing up Bussmann’s comments, Langer also recognised the need to get parts to the right location. “If you look at Amazon, it combines the digital platform with the physical supply chain, shipping goods at the right time. Lufthansa Technik seeks to do the same. We want Aviatar to support the part being shipped to where it is needed,” he concluded.
By Bernie Baldwin, editorial correspondent