Integrating maintainability and data development

In this paper we described a new and innovative maintainability-engineering tool being developed by GE-GRC, AFRL and Lockheed Martin (LM). The tool employs modeling, simulation, information composition and virtual prototyping to allow an easier analysis of service related issues early in the design. The resulting coupling of the design and service data promote a concurrent development of preliminary designs and maintenance manuals, resulting in a truly maintenance oriented design approach. The prototype tool is in development and will be beta-tested on several commercial and military systems. Implementation challenges discussed include a need for user-defined constraints on the disassembly planner and difficulties mapping design data to domain information: Future directions for this research will examine using the technology for maintenance task analysis, change impact analysis and job-level work scope planning. Finally, we described an implementation strategy for technology transition including an initial Illustrated Parts Catalogue (IPC) generation capability and maintainability studies on components of the GE Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as well as other GE engines.