September/October 2023 - 14

SPECI AL FOCUS
to accomplish that mission is very important at the
early stages, " said Jansen.
Where a potential new hangar will be located
should also be driven in part by customer demand,
said Zada.
" It gets back to where some of those sites are
constrained, and then we also partner with state
governments to figure out where there are incentives
that will help us build in their states. For
example, we were able to get some benefit with
our recent expansion in Chattanooga, Tennessee
from the state of Tennessee, same with Illinois. We
were able to get a bit of a grant or expand on an
existing grant, I should say, to help us build within
Illinois as well, " he said.
Aircraft mechanics, shop technicians and warehouse
employees provide important insight into
daily operations and offer valuable ideas on the
design of new systems and procedures to make
their jobs safer and more productive.
" Finally, the design and construction team provide
critical contributions by creating detailed
layouts of facilities and equipment, inputs on constructability
and schedule, and immediate feedback
on how the design decisions affect cost, " said Jansen.
Zada said they have a wide range of voices helping
to inform them during the pre-planning phase.
They include program managers, general managers,
facility managers, maintenance managers and more.
Getting feedback from these people helps inform
some of the key components of the future hangar.
" For example, storage is always a hot commodity
and it's a hot topic because storage facility obviously
needs to be conditioned, it needs to be kept near
where we're working on the aircraft, but we want
to make sure that we're getting the right mix of
storage to back shop capacity to working hangar
space as we're building these out.
" So we are careful to bring in the teams that are
A wide range of voices
should be brought in to
inform the pre-planning
phase for a new hangar.
BURNS & MCDONNELL
going to be working in these facilities, make sure
that we're meeting their needs and taking their
feedback as input through the entire conceptual
design phase, through the actual design phase and
then into the operational phase as well, " he said.
Solving for workflow in a hangar, and how people
Getting the Right Input
As the planning phase gets underway, directors of
maintenance have the loudest voice when developing
maintenance facilities, said Jansen, adding that
the design team does not even begin planning the
facility without the input of the users, led by the
director of maintenance.
" Many times, the design team acts as the mediator
between the group providing funding for the
facility and the users to help provide prices for
everything and separate the 'must-haves' from the
" nice-to-haves, " Jansen continued. " The director
of maintenance will have the best overview of the
maintenance workflow as a whole and is best suited
to provide data such as the size of the workforce,
their pain points in the work process, and current
and future needs. "
Outside of the DOM's input, the commercial real
estate and properties and development department
of the organization provides information on the
lease requirements, suitability of the site, and most
importantly, the budget for the facility.
14 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
will literally flow through it, is another important
aspect that Zada picks the brains of the people who
will be working inside a new hangar for.
" I've asked folks to sit down and say, 'All right,
draw it on a map for me. I want to see where we
have to go, or draw it on a plan.' Let's see what this
is going to mean for operations as we're looking to
bring this new hangar online. I want to understand
if where we are placing these offices or MEC shops
or tooling centers, I want to make sure that they
make sense. That way you're not wasting technicians'
time, running all around the site trying to
find a specific tool or get to a place where we have
interior parts stored, for example, " he said.
Solving for Size
The aircraft size and maintenance activities that
will be performed on aircraft help decide the size
of the hangar bays or parking positions within the
overall hangar. Facilities dedicated to line maintenance
will have a different footprint than heavy
maintenance checks, for example.
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
September/October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September/October 2023
