A new reporting platform simplifies aircraft overhaul

The work Lufthansa Technik does in the overhaul business takes place in locations spread throughout the world, which makes operational reporting difficult. In order to fulfill all requirements and uncover optimization potentials, Lufthansa Technik has set up a new reporting platform with the help of Lufthansa Industry Solutions.

The customer

Lufthansa Technik is one of the largest suppliers of MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) and modifications in the civil aviation industry. This company provides a large range of services worldwide for the complete life cycle of an aircraft: from individual services to entire service packages for aircraft and engines. In 2015, Lufthansa Technik generated EUR 5.1 billion with its seven business divisions: maintenance, overhaul, components, engines, landing gear, VIP aircraft and original equipment innovation. Lufthansa Technik employs a staff of 20,000 worldwide.

The challenge

Overhaul and engine and landing gear maintenance are two of the most staff-intensive business divisions, which puts pressure on Lufthansa Technik to streamline processes. There is also increased pressure due to growing competition between MRO suppliers worldwide. At the same time, services “made in Germany” are still in demand in the global market.

Lufthansa Technik’s overhaul division staff, i.e. base maintenance, are spread out in different locations throughout the world. Operational reporting previously took place using SAP transactions and manual processing was done using MS Excel. This complex process needed to be optimized by establishing a modern, flexible, fully integrated reporting platform. It had to be able to meet the needs of a range of different user groups while streamlining processes.

However, it also had to take into account complex requirements like the provision of data, granularity, being up to date, figures and data models, as well as the complex rules of calculation for key figures and reports.

The solutions

In order to meet the reporting demands of its offices throughout the world, Lufthansa Industry Solutions set up the new application SAP BI to meet Lufthansa Technik’s group reporting requirements. This solution is part of the SAP BI group system, BW on HANA, and includes an application that team leaders, production leaders, controllers and management can use to analyze aircraft overhaul data. The user interface is powered by SAP BO. Lufthansa Technik is now also able to utilize data material for predictive maintenance analyses.

The details of what Lufthansa Industry Solutions provides:

  • Architecture consulting
  • Project management
  • Workshops with key users
  • Reworking and expansion of BI governance guidelines
  • Specialist, IT and test conceptualization
  • Implementation of rapid prototyping methods
  • Conceptualization and implementation of user and key user training
  • Implementation in regular operations
  • Application support during the stabilization phase

The customer benefit

The new platform, powered by SAP BW on HANA and SAP BO, makes it possible to carry out central reporting across national offices. The diversity of its functions and features is especially suited to meeting departmental requirements. In addition to this, staff members are now able to utilize analyses on their mobile devices for the first time. New statistical methods using SAP BI are helping Lufthansa Technik to uncover optimization potentials in the overhaul division.