Recently a small group from Fleet Support Unit – Australia (FSU-AUST) undertook an industry visit to Qantas Maintenance Services in Sydney.
The prime objective was for the group, comprised of a cross-section of maintenance planning and production personnel, to observe the Qantas maintenance Value Chain so as to learn better ways that FSU AUST may plan and deliver improved maintenance services to Navy.
So what is a Value Chain? It’s an industry concept, one which the General Manger of FSU-AUST, Jason Aquilina is a big advocate of, “the idea of a Value Chain is to break down a business into the parts that create value. The Value Chain provides an organisation with a framework within which they can identify their core capabilities and competencies,” said Mr Aquilina,
“For FSU-AUST, as we set about the task of re-birth, this chance to collaborate with such a flagship organisation is one that we jumped at. It’s not every day that you get to take a look inside a company that is such an icon of safety in the Australian and international aviation industry,” Mr Aquilina said.
LEUT Jonathon Robarts, Operations Manager at FSU-SE, said, “I was surprised at the number of parallels in the fundamentals of the two maintenance systems, even basic terminology was quite similar and I came away with some great ideas that we can implement in the planning and delivery of maintenance services within FSU”.
“The visit reinforced the importance of the Value Chain and the quality of the product as it is progressed. Using this understanding further reinforces the importance of FSU-AUST working closely with each “customer” so as to ensure quality is embedded throughout the maintenance process and Navy, as the end user, gets maximum capability benefit,” said LEUT Robarts.
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Press Release, August 5, 2013; Image: Australian Navy