RFID Solution Of Plane Spare Parts:

Something like one thousand parts (amongst the several thousand that a plane has) are very expensive and critical to operations. These parts can be easily tracked using RFLD. The RFID-based system ensures that the tags are sewn in alongwith the cloth labels that a part carries. Each maintenance hangar or stores has several RFID readers deployed which can sense which of these parts is available in the respective locations. These RFID readers are in turn networked using middleware to a dedicated inventory management system that knows which parts are available where. Hence surplus parts in one location can be quickly identified and shipped out to places requiring them. This also reduces the amount of “insurance spares” that each hangar has to carry. Typically each hangar needs to carry some excess spares to always ensure that the required spare is always available (hence known as insurance spares).The new system means that such excess inventory need not be carried. This is a very big advantage to todays airlines, who have been squeezed due to low margins and high operational costs. The optimization of spares using RFID means that less cash is held up in inventory and more is available to meet the airline’s operational cash flow requirements

History Of Plane Spare Parts:

The UK’s Royal Air Force has several squadrons of Sea Harrier “Jump Jets” fighter aircraft. These are known as Jump jets because they require very short take off and landing lengths on the runway. Each Jump Jet has thousands of spare parts, some of which are very critical and expensive. Until now, the only way to track the movement of these parts in the various materials stores, depots and aircraft hangars was either manually or by semi-automatic means like barcoding. This is true for all makes of aircraft, not just the fighters. Thus even civilian aircraft have thousands of parts which need to be managed well to keep the fleet operational.

Advantages Of RFID Solution:

• Instant location of critical spares in all hangars, material stores & depots and even on board remote places like aircraft carriers.
• Less need to carry excess inventory of must have spares, as the required spares can be almost instantly located. Hence less cash gets locked up in inventory without sacificing reliability

Future Scenarios Of Plane Spare Parts:

The UK’s Royal Air Force has already started implementing an RFID-based tracking system for the Jump Jets. In future, the same system can be used by any airline or any air force for better inventory management.