The Pitfalls Of Outsourcing

[chilokie1]

As a 30 year employee of AA I'am safe to say that our aircraft maintenance dept. is not
perfect, nobody's is. But as we morph into the "New American Airlines" whose business
plan includes outsourcing many of the jobs we used to do in house, I feel the real costs
or total costs are not being reported on the bottom line.
Not all but many of the parts we receive need to be sent back to the vender for rework,
sure it is up to that vender to pay for the rework (at least I hope it is) but it is up to AA to
pay for the downtime of that part (by leasing parts, engines, etc etc).
My reasoning for this topic is a way for us to inform each other of the problems they see
and maybe even get the attention of AA that maybe one managers spending decrease
costs another manager to increase his costs or having missed gates or cancelled flights.

Here is an example, today in dock 2D at TULE a B737 sits because the vender who painted
it (old LAA aircraft) left the paint stripper on too long and damaged the aluminum skin. It is
possible the aircraft will need to be scrapped, sure the venders insurance will cover the damage.
But will the cost of the downtime be added to the cost of outsourcing that job? What is the
cost of a 737 sitting on the ground per day?

 

[AA89]

The vendor should be responsible for ALL lost income as well as the aircraft loss.

 

[AA89]

When AFW was closing I asked Jim Ream what the cost savings was in closing AFW and sending that work to HAECO. He said 30% including fuel, post overhaul rework and lost revenue from increased down time. I doubt there was ever any proof of that required in Bankruptcy Court and I doubt the union has any way of disputing that now. Management wanted it gone so it went away. No accountability needed.

 

[chilokie1]

I doubt those numbers are even close to reality, my point was
that this airline is so big that the problems that outsourcing can
cause ripples through the system so that the original reason for
the delays could be lost later in the day.

But also let me say that some vendors are outstanding, like the
company that does the warranty work on LAA's V2500 engines.
I did not want to sound like I'am against outsourcing for personal
job security, I just have seen too many new problems that has
arisen from outsourcing. And I firmly beleive that if an airline has
a large fleet type (like our 737's) and a good knowledgable management
team & then add the value of controlling your own fleet..............
It is a no brainer.

 

[UPNAWAY]

I am not sure why so many in MX want to do things like paint or all the Heavy Checks. You are more valuable focusing on the day to day MX opperations and Reliability issues like ECOs and MODS.

 

[1AA]

I am not sure why so many in MX want to do things like paint or all the Heavy Checks. You are more valuable focusing on the day to day MX opperations and Reliability issues like ECOs and MODS.

Because it is part of our job description.

 

[chilokie1]

I am not sure why so many in MX want to do things like paint or all the Heavy Checks. You are more valuable focusing on the day to day MX opperations and Reliability issues like ECOs and MODS.

That statement is so stupid on so many levels that I have no answer.

 

[AA89]

I am not sure why so many in MX want to do things like paint or all the Heavy Checks. You are more valuable focusing on the day to day MX opperations and Reliability issues like ECOs and MODS.

I'm hoping you are just being sarcastic and parroting the similar comment the woman made at the townhall about reassigning mechanics from taxi duties to "mechanic" duties. Just dumb...

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

That statement is so stupid on so many levels that I have no answer.

There seems to be a lot of competition around here for that sort of thing. Ms. Tree by far was the king of the stupids.

 

[UPNAWAY]

Here is an example, today in dock 2D at TULE a B737 sits because the vender who painted it (old LAA aircraft) left the paint stripper on too long and damaged the aluminum skin. It is possible the aircraft will need to be scrapped

Well that was a bit exagerated (to make a point I guess) but repair is completed, only some minor blending not even a major repair or EA required.

 

[chilokie1]

Why would they fly it back to Tulsa if they originally thought it was nothing? Was it just
a giant pissing contest between the vendors engineers and AA's engineers? Probably,
But the fact remains, a 737 sat in the hanger gathering dust for two weeks because of
the venders mistake

 

[bob@las-AA]

Why would they fly it back to Tulsa if they originally thought it was nothing? Was it just
a giant pissing contest between the vendors engineers and AA's engineers? Probably,
But the fact remains, a 737 sat in the hanger gathering dust for two weeks because of
the venders mistake

But at the end of the day......who gives a flying F

 

[BeechDriver]

But at the end of the day......who gives a flying F

Quite a few of us actually. Throughout our careers we overhaul mechanics were expected to to produce aircraft in a timely manner with excellent reliability. Downtime was stressed as a bad thing. An aircraft sitting on the ground was not making money. With the new mentality that we have inherited with our new usair leadership the old values seem to have been thrown out. A more laxidasical attitude towards accomplishing aircraft maintenance has now taken effect. It was only a few years ago that our services were considered valuable. The new leadership has managed our productivity and efficiency down to the level of an organization that could be considered somewhat irrelevant.

 

[chilokie1]

But at the end of the day......who gives a flying F

Are you that big of an meat head ? Go smash a few bags but try not to
damage the equipment in the process !

 

[AA89]

Feed the strays and they keep coming back....