An analysis of the concurrent certification program at Fleet Readiness Center Southwest

Abstract

The purpose of this MBA Project was to answer the question of whether or not the Concurrent Certification (ConCert) program is working successfully on the E-2/C-2 aircraft production line. This study also determines if the ConCert program improves "quality at the source" and if it should be rolled out to other Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) product lines. Data from FRCSW E-2/C-2 production line was analyzed. The data included the number of Discrepancy Work Orders (DWO) created, number of Maintenance Action Forms (MAF) created, number of Functional Check Flights (FCF), and number of Aircraft Inspection Discrepancy Reports (AIDR) received from customers. Critical areas examined were the number of defects discovered in the hangar, the number of defects that were not discovered until the aircraft arrived on the test line, and the number of defects that made it to the customer. The analysis of the data revealed that ConCert appears to effectively perform the quality verification function. Furthermore, the data shows that quality has improved; however, the source of the improvement cannot be linked solely to ConCert.