Data-Driven Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems for the Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Environment

The objective of this work is to develop a data-driven analytical framework for assessing the current manufacturing and maintenance systems and propose a roadmap for moving towards an RMS system well aligned with maintenance activities customized to the Air Force ALC environment. Because of the importance of identifying the part families in the design of an RMS system, we propose a systematic approach in identifying part families with respect to aircraft maintenance procedures, and connecting each part family to the maintenance procedure and required resources. The objective is to develop a systematic model to represent the aircraft maintenance system, including critical aircraft products (major system, subsystem, and components), maintenance procedures, machines required for each procedure, and sequences and cycle time needed. The model will be used to represent the aircraft maintenance system, to identify the opportunities to implement the RMS, and to evaluate the improvements and effectiveness of an RMS strategy if it is implemented.