How Ramco Prioritizes Compliance While Pursuing Innovation in Maintenance ERP

Aircraft maintenance organizations have always needed to stay compliant with regulatory bodies to ensure safety in all operations. With innovations emerging today that change the traditional workflow in a repair shop, concerns have arisen about how to maintain regulatory compliance while embracing change, such as automation and new technologies.

With a focus on Ramco’s ERP software designed specifically for MROs, Sam Jacob—CEO for Ramco Aviation, Defense and Aerospace—shared how his organization ensures compliance while offering modernized, digital solutions for maintenance departments.

How does Ramco ensure its solutions maintain regulatory compliance?

“Regulatory compliance is kind of inbuilt into every process that we design because without that, the industry is not going to accept the solution,” stated Jacob.

He continued, “Because they are bound by the regulatory compliance requirements and the process that they need to use, which is enforced by the system, the system itself also needs to comply with it.”

Jacob shared insight into how Ramco’s team prioritizes compliance from the conception and production stages of its Aviation MRO ERP Software. He said, “Whenever we look at any functional design, regulatory compliance is the first thing that we look at.”

“Where and what aspects are needed to be covered, that’s first,” added Jacob, “The second is figuring out how we can make sure that these are all covered within the system and how we can save technicians from exiting out of the system to manage some of these things.”

How MRO ERP software keeps records management and work execution compliant

“Most of this comes in the areas of technical records management as well as work execution,” explained Jacob, “When you execute the work, how do you ensure that the right people and the right material is used?”

He elaborated, “In Ramco's aviation solution, every task has the required skill and the materials needed for that particular task as prescribed by the OEM. The system then enforces that.”

Jacob provided an example, stating, “When a person is assigned to a particular task, the skill of that person—the mechanic—is matched with the job requirements. That particular task and its skill requirements are first assessed, and then we ensure that the right people are assigned to that particular task.”

Jacob added, “And when they sign it off, the second check is done.”

He noted that the second check involves exploring several questions, such as:

• Do they really have that skill?
• What group or role are they signing it off as?
• Are they signing it off as a mechanic?
• Are they signing it off as an inspector?

“We validate all of that, including their license—whether it is valid or not and what certification the job is running on,” said Jacob.

He continued, “For example, if you eventually have to give an FAA certification—an 8130 certificate that has to be generated for a component at the end of it—if a person has only EASA certification, then he cannot work on that specific job.”

“These types of checks and balances are put in place first,” noted Jacob, “The system recognizes these functions and provides for all of that, and then additional validations are also provided.”

How compliance is assured for parts and inventory

Jacob also discussed how Ramco’s ERP software solution designed for MROs and maintenance departments maintains compliance for parts and inventory.

He shared, “Similarly, when a part is received into inventory, we check whether the required certification—like all 8130 certificates—is available as part of our receiving process. And specific inspection checkpoints are identified where people can check and then tell the system, yes it is or no it’s not.”

Jacob explained, “In cases where there is a discrepancy, the part is quarantined. There's a separate process by which we identify that there is a problem, and it is put in a staging area. The responsible person is identified in the system, they correct the discrepancy and then the part is allowed to move forward.”

“You can practically see these cheques and balances in place in it, anywhere and everywhere. That's one part of the equation, and then there’s the auditability part of it,” said Jacob.

He continued, “Say someone wants to audit these things periodically, or you have to show it to an FAA auditor or an EASA auditor. Then what? How do we do that? There are places where you can check for compliances. There are reports that are on-screen inquiries where you can actually show that you are in compliance.”

How does Ramco’s systems handle anomalies and exceptions?

As exceptions and anomalies consistently emerge in aviation maintenance Jacob described how Ramco’s digital solutions anticipate and respond to these situations.

He stated, “We also manage processes for managing exceptions because there will always be exceptions. Systems fail when you're too rigid, and in that case, it is not a usable system.”

Jacob noted, “For example, let's say a maintenance requirement states that you know a particular task must be executed tomorrow, and the part only has one remaining flight hour. You know that is remaining…so if you don’t do [the maintenance task] and then fly anyway, it’s a serious violation of the requirement.”

“Sometimes, there may be genuine operational reasons why you cannot execute the task,” continued Jacob, “It could be that you are in a line station where the facilities are not available or material is not available.”

“There are processes for requesting different conditions,” said Jacob, discussing the process for managing these requests.

He added, “You need to have a method to first identify this request. We register what we call a “short term escalation” with all the justifications and put it through an approval process. Once it is approved, the system automatically goes and modifies those limits to the escalated limit. And then we track its compliance.”

“Exception management is also a critical component when it comes to regulatory compliance. It's not just about having watertight things. How we manage exceptions is equally important.”