This is a summary of a paper that was published in the conference proceedings

1. The EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in
Through-life
Engineering Services
www.through-life-engineering-services.org
A Multi-sector National Centre

2. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Study of the cross sector challenges in Through-
life Engineering Services feedback to design and
manufacture
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

3. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Research aim
The aim of this research project is to investigate cross
sector challenges in maintenance, repair and overhaul
(through-life engineering services) to improve availability,
predictability and reliability of high value products while
reducing the service cost. This project will also establish
the current state of feedback between engineering services
and design, and engineering services and manufacturing.
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

4. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Project 1 – Research Team
Picture
Dr Louis Redding
pending
Professor Ashutosh Tiwari

5. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Project 1 – Research Questions
1. What are the major challenges and opportunities within the areas of
maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) across industrial sectors?
2. What are the major challenges and opportunities in service feedback to
design and manufacturing functions across sectors?
3. How can case studies be captured where design and manufacturing
impact service performance and as a result cost?
4. How can the identified challenges and opportunities be mapped against
current tools to identify the knowledge gaps?
5. How can the EPSRC Centre support a wide range of requirements
(Lower and higher TRL level research and product
development, education, standards etc) from industry
within through-life engineering services?
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

6. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Overview of Project 1
Structured
Population interviews,
Key words data and direct
and search questionnaire observation,
Inputs strings and review
informed by
the literature of company
data
• Publications
Literature Industrial 2 Case • Reports
search survey Studies • Awareness
• Mapping
Knowledge of Practitioner Knowledge of
the state of awareness of how Through-
the art in the concept life Engineering
Outputs Through-life and the Services are
Engineering perceived developed and
Services benefits/issues operate
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

7. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Survey
• Two approaches
Postal survey
Targeting UK
based
manufacturing
organisations
Survey
(2 Approaches)
On line open
survey
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

8. Identification of the postal survey
population
The search parameters The population
Industrial
Geographic
Turnover sector by SIC
location
code
2,752,710
77710 companies Companies based
who have within the UK
manufacturing
United ≥ 10 million Every SIC
operations in the
UK
Kingdom GBP code included
if referring to 1837 Companies
who have a
manufacturing turnover ≥ £10
million
Population of manufacturing organisations who
may possess the potential to offer through life 304 companies after review of
engineering services organisational websites
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

9. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Survey Response rate
• Two approaches
Postal survey
Targeting UK Poor
based ≥0.5%
manufacturing
organisations
Survey
(2 Approaches)
51
Companies
On line open
survey
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

10. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Reasons cited for non-response
• Administrations and liquidations
• “Cannot identify key personnel within organisation to
whom this applies”
• “We have no interest in through-life service
provision” – [Major European Car Manufacturer]
• “We do not respond to surveys”
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

11. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Survey Results
(On line - Questionnaire)

12. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Company presence by sector
Power, 1 Security, 1 Telecoms, 2
Oil & Gas, 3
Nuclear, 5
Mineral Extraction, 0
Marine, 3
Health, 0
Energy, 3
Electronics, 3
Aerospace, 44
Defence, 11
Civil/Construction, 1
Some companies have a
Automotive, 3
Agriculture, 1 presence in several sectors
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

13. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Description of organisations
responding to ‘On line’ survey
Minerals Extraction
Civil/Construction
Automotive
Agriculture
Electronics
Aerospace
Telecoms
Defense
Security
Nuclear
Oil/Gas
Marine
Energy
Health
Power
Original Equipment Manufacturer 9 0 1 1 5 1 1 0 1 0 3 1 0 1 1
Tier 1 Supplier (Supplies directly to OEM) 8 0 1 1 3 2 1 0 1 0 3 1 0 1 1
Tier 2 Supplier (Supplies to Tier 1) 7 0 2 1 3 2 2 0 1 0 3 2 1 1 2
Others 28 1 2 0 5 1 2 0 3 0 1 1 1 1 1
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

14. Organisational Structure & major
customers
Consumers
(B2C), 10
Division of a
A Private multi-
company, 22 national
company, 25 Government
agencies , 29
Public/Private
Companies, 36
A diivision of
a publically A publically
listed listed
company, 4 company, 5
Organisation
Customers
Structure
Some companies have a
presence in several sectors
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding Ref: Redding et al (2012)

15. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Interest in maintenance appears
to be growing
• 64% Are manufacturers who conduct in
house maintenance activities
• 36% Are manufacturers who stated that
they did not conduct maintenance
activities
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

16. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Method of initiating MRO
activities by sector
Minerals Extraction
Civil/Construction
Automotive
Agriculture
Electronics
Aerospace
Telecoms
Defense
Security
Nuclear
Oil/Gas
Marine
Energy
Health
Power
Time based maintenance systems 14 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
Reliability based maintenance systems 9 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
Usage based maintenance systems 9 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
Condition monitoring systems 9 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0
We do not trigger MRO activities 6 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
No Answer 21 1 2 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 1
Notes!
1. Not even in 2. Not even in
1. CT and MRI Scanners etc!! their asset their asset
2. Mining Condition Monitoring Tools!!! management!!! management!!!
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

17. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Method of recording MRO
data within respondent organisations
Others
None
Hand held portable devices
Remote data collection via satellite
Remote data collection via telecoms
RFID related technology
Electronic databases
Elecronic files
Paper files
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Number of companies
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

18. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Nature of data content as
advised by practitioners
• “Failure categorization”
• “Failure modes and wear patterns….[which]…are fed back to
improve future designs and upgrades”,
• “…faults that get tracked back to design docs and previous
repairs”,
• “Helicopter support is generally quite open loop with little
obvious integration with MRO chain and little obvious
constructive feedback of any kind aimed at reducing life cycle
cost”,
• “…outcome of special inspections MTBR”,
• “Performance data MTBF”,
• “..performance data, failure categorization, physical
attributes, photos, initial root cause analysis…..”,

19. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Cross tabulation of data usage
and mode of collection
Prognostics
35
30
25
20
15
10 Other
5 Not used
Usage Monitoring
0
Time based MRO systems
Spares and inventory acquisition
Billing

20. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Challenges relating to the
capture of MRO data
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

21. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
The use of MRO data by sector
Minerals Extraction
Civil/Construction
Automotive
Agriculture
Electronics
Aerospace
Telecoms
Defense
Security
Nuclear
Oil/Gas
Marine
Energy
Health
Power
Billing 14 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
Spares and inventory acquistion 12 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0
Time based MRO systems 10 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
Usage monitoring 11 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0
Not used 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other 7 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
No answer 21 1 2 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 1
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding Ref: Redding et al (2012)

22. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Status of data feedback
Un-Known
at this
point
Design function 3rd Party Maintenance
Facility
68% Yes
32% No
64% Yes
36% No Manufacturing function
68% Yes
32% No
Service & Use Functions
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

23. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Perceived opportunities
by sector
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

24. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Conclusions

25. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Findings from the survey data
Finding No. Finding Description
1. Although there is continuing growth cited within the literature relating to pro-active
MRO initiatives, the data suggests that such activities for the majority of manufacturing
organisations responding to the survey appear to remain reactionary only being
triggered by customer request.
2. The data suggests that there is no clearly defined universal method adopted by MRO
activities for the collection of data with such functions using a variety of data collection
protocols and methods.
3. Within the organisations surveyed the majority of organisations state that they do
feedback MRO data to their design and manufacturing functions (either ‘in house’ or
external). This implies that such data is technology/usage based rather than being
purely commercial or administrative.
4. There appears to be a misalignment relating to the needs of the end user of MRO data
(manufacturing and design functions) and the systems abilities to provide accurate and
timely responses (technical and usage data) and related information.
5. Challenges exist relating to the quantity, quality and completeness of data.
Respondents to the survey suggest that there is too much data, it is fragmented and of
poor quality in many cases and not complete.
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

26. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Findings from the data
Finding No. Finding Description
6. Within the MRO field relating to through-life engineering services, there are no clear
definitions, ontology or taxonomy which can assist in the categorisation of data,
information and ultimately knowledge.
7. There are issues relating to incomplete understanding of product and component
performance due to intermittent failures and error signals in MRO systems. This skews
the data and can affect decisions relating to MRO strategies.
8. Although organisations stated that they collected MRO data its content, structure,
storage and retrieval appears to be ad’hoc in all but a few leading world class OEM’s.
The data is unduly skewed by the existence of NNF recording within the data, the effect
of which is not clear or widely known.
9. Condition based monitoring/management and RFID technology are identified as being
the key opportunities within the field of through-life engineering services.
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

27. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
12 Findings from the data
Finding No. Finding Description
10. Interest in through-life engineering services continues to grow. The majority of
organisations responding to the survey state that they have plans to move into through-
life engineering services with a greater majority stating that they have plans to extend
the use of acquired MRO data and use this to inform the manufacturing and design
functions within their organisation.
11. Whilst there are undoubtedly significant challenges and opportunities relating to the
successful adoption of through-life engineering services the perceived threats to this
successful adoption within the practitioner base responding to the survey relate to data
management issues arising from the lack of standards, procedures, and supporting
structures.
12. The greatest perceived opportunity that through-life engineering services offers is seen
to be in the field of prognostics leading to faster mitigation relative to degrading
products.
Ref: Redding et al (2012)
©Cranfield University/L. E. Redding

28. EPSRC Centre in Through-life Engineering Services
Our Partners
Questions: Louis Redding, Project Manager/Research Fellow on
01234 750111 ex 2283 or at l.e.redding@cranfield.ac.uk