Consider that the fundamental obligation to ensure the correct allocation of manpower sits with the EASA Part 145 Production Planning Group, however the Operators āMaintenance Planningā group are stakeholders in the effective delivery of the maintenance check, so clearly there is a specific interest.
When developing the maintenance man-hour plan we need to take into account planned flight hours and Planned Cycles together with the forecasted man-hour need related to the individual component change requirements.
Note that – āMaintenance work loadā includes all required work such as, but not limited to, supervision, planning, maintenance records, production planning, materials, and quality monitoring.
It is the responsibility of the CAMO Manager or nominated deputy to ensure that that prior to committing to a contract for the supply of either direct maintenance services (A checks C checks Etc.) or other associated activities (Ad Hoc Maintenance for example) that confirmation of the availability of sufficient manpower resources is confirmed as currently or potentially available to meet the planned need together with a contingency reserve.
Note it is a requirement that the regulatory authority are consulted and are in agreement regarding the acceptance of any primary maintenance contract.
Taking into full consideration the short term planning activities we are able (for example) to develop a 3 monthly rolling program which may be presented and accepted in advance at the Monthly Part M /Part 145 Meeting. The man-hour plan should then be reviewed and compared to planned workload continually 3 months in advanced.
This allows the EASA 145 Production Planning Group to ensure that enough manpower is available to fulfil the maintenance work load continually and to further ensure that any shortfall is resolved by either increasing manpower with flexible working or by other capacity augmentation.
Alternatively it is possible to negotiate with EASA Part M maintenance planning to remove non-essential work in order to defer to a later time. When it is not possible to resolve a shortfall through normal negotiations it should be referred to senior management for appropriate action and resolution.
If there is significant deviation from the maintenance man-hour plan in any given calendar month (more than 25% shortfall in available man-hours during a calendar month for any of the functions listed above.) A report should be submitted by the CAMO manager to the Quality Manager (QM) and Accountable Manager (AM) detailing the reasons for the shortfall.
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