How Hawaii's No. 1 FBO Keeps Track Of Refueling Maintenance

April 17, 2013
Bradly Pacific Aviation moves more than 1 million gallons of fuel per day through fleet of hydrant vehicles and tanker trucks.

Whether it’s services for commercial and business aircraft or maintenance management for its ground service equipment, Bradley Pacific Aviation never settles for second best.

This steadfast commitment to excellence is a major reason why Bradley Pacific Aviation has become the No. 1 provider of FBO aviation services in the Hawaiian market.

The company provides fuel, ground handling and concierge services to business and military aircraft throughout Hawaii, and supports commercial airlines with refueling services at the Honolulu, Kahului, Kona, Hilo, and Lihue airports.

Bradley Pacific Aviation moves more than 1 million gallons of fuel per day through its combined fleet of hydrant service vehicles and fuel tank trucks.

The aviation service provider treats its ground service equipment with the same dutiful care and respect. It uses a CMMS (computerized maintenance management software) product called Bigfoot CMMS for preventive maintenance, work orders and parts inventory management at its five locations on the islands.  

"Before we brought in the CMMS I had to call technicians to stay up to date on equipment maintenance and work orders," says Enrique Elizondo, Bradley Pacific Aviation’s maintenance director. "I also was traveling constantly to check up on things at our different locations."

Now, Elizondo can view a CMMS dashboard from his office to view every station and easily see what PMs are scheduled, who is working on what, or check parts inventory status.

"It’s a simple, intuitive product that doesn’t require a big learning curve," he adds. "We’re also able to ship many replacement parts from our main hub in Honolulu, which I can do from my desktop or smartphone."

MEETING ATA QC STANDARDS 

Elizondo is responsible for the maintenance of more than 100 pieces of ground support equipment, including aircraft generators, baggage carts, aircraft tugs, air stairs, and pick-up trucks and vans that transport crew members.

In addition, he oversees the maintenance program for three fuel storage facilities and must comply with stringent ATA 103 quality control standards, and state and fire department regulations.

"Plus, the company is routinely audited by its airline customers, too, so the ability to monitor the status of equipment remotely is extremely helpful," he adds.

Proper maintenance of Bradley Pacific Aviation’s fuel delivery equipment of nearly 50 hydrant and tanker trucks includes ensuring compliance with a variety of state and federal regulations, as well as industry standards.

Elizondo is also responsible for maintaining nearly . And before any fuel either piped in from the oil refineries in Kapolei or barged to neighboring islands from Honolulu is pumped into aircraft, it must be filtered for foreign particles and checked for moisture to prevent water from getting into the tanker trucks. 

In the past it was difficult for Elizondo to monitor and track these filter changes, since each station had its own maintenance program. He was receiving frequent emails and faxes from the stations and had to deal with too many emergency situations.

With his CMMS, he now has PMs scheduled for checking pressure controls and meter calibrations, filtering fuel, changing filters and adding fuel additives on all fuel trucks. He can also create ad-hoc WOs when necessary.

“We now have fewer emergency repairs and lower costs for filters and all replacement parts,” Elizondo said.

REDUCING REPAIR COSTS

According to Elizondo, the maintenance department has nine PMs per vehicle, which are triggered based on accumulated operating time between servicing.

This preventative approach has enabled Bradley Pacific to significantly reduce labor time for repairs. The software's ease of use and reporting capabilities have also cut the time employees spend on paperwork and filing, not to mention his travel time and expenses.

“We’re able to get more work done without adding employees,” he says. “Each technician can see his own WOs and close them out when the work is done. We don’t need to have clerks manually transfer this information, which saves everyone time and helps minimize data errors and inaccuracies.”

Finding and obtaining parts for some of Bradley Pacific’s older vehicles was challenging and costly, since almost all came from the mainland.

Now CMMS reports can pull vehicle maintenance history from WOs to show the cumulative costs of repairs. One report showed the company that purchasing a new hydrant truck even with a price tag $160,000 was still more cost-effective than continuing frequent repairs.

Maintenance history is also mandatory for each piece of equipment and must be documented for at least two years. The CMMS automatically generates detailed records to show FAA regulators that necessary repairs have been made, and that its maintenance program meets all requirements.  

Bradley Pacific Aviation also uses the CMMS to track equipment warranties and assign WOs to contactors. In the future, the company plans to use the software to more accurately estimate projected equipment costs.