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Why Lead Times Are A Nightmare & How To Guarantee Aircraft Component Delivery

How often are you sitting at your desk waiting, wondering, hoping, your aircraft component arrives on time? aircraft-component

It was supposed to arrive 4 days ago but still, you’ve kept waiting.

Every day the component fails to ship is another day your aircraft maintenance schedule is pushed back.

It’s a distribution bottleneck nightmare. And a costly one.

As the days pass, the closer you get to your aircraft being AOG. Scheduled flights are where you make money, not in some hangar. Thousands of dollars are at stake waiting on this measly aircraft component. One component will delay the entire aircraft from generating revenue.

It’s scary. It’s nerve wrecking. It’s a nightmare.

Sitting and waiting on components isn’t the best use of your time. Frankly, it’s an unjustifiable money suck.

In this crazy aviation world, is there a way to avoid this, or at least minimize the effects?

On time delivery

Let’s face it, having the right part, at the right time, at the right place, is critical to airline operations.

After speaking with hundreds of friends and airline partners over the years, it's unanimous. Turn time, lead time time, or whatever else you want to call it is a HUGE issue. It's what keeps you up at night, it’s what delays your maintenance project, and worst of all it's a serious contributor to your AOG expenses.

Meet your new best friend…pooling.

An aircraft component pooling program gives you the flexibility to have the right part at the right time. No headaches of processing POs or wondering if a part is actually “ready to go.”

It gives you complete transparency without the inventory investment.

They’re typically based on a guaranteed service level that work with your unique operation.

If turn time’s are an issue for your MEL, No-Go and even safety stock, aircraft component pooling is something to consider.

Fixed costs

Another benefit to pooling is the fixed costs.

It’s like leasing an aircraft without having to spend the the capital on inventory.

Every month you’ll have a fixed cost based on your service level.

Now you tell me that your CFO wouldn’t be happy with fixed costs? You’ll make his life much easier. But don’t worry, leave me out of it and you can take all the credit.

Even better, pooling programs guarantee stock availability, reducing unnecessary expenditure.

AOGs affect your overall maintenance spending. The more AOGs you have, the more you're going to spend on outright purchases and freight to fix the last minute problem.

Simple to implement

A pooling program doesn’t have to be complicated.

On the basic level you’ll need to know what components you need support with, and from there you can decide on your service level.

Start with reviewing where your issues are occurring and work with a partner that can be flexible with your needs, and help you make the right choice.

An aircraft component pooling program’s goal is to guarantee availability backed by fixed costs. That directly makes your life less stressful and the best part is you don't have to invest in inventory.

Does it get much easier?

P.S. If you need help guaranteeing TAT and component availability, check out our pooling program here. Or if you want to skip that and get right into the details, contact us here.