Aviation asset management specialist Gamit is launching its new Records Online Asset Management (Roam) system for storing searchable aircraft maintenance records. The product is part of the UK company’s portfolio of services that also include aircraft spare parts and logistics, supporting operators as a continuing airworthiness management organization (CAMO) and a variety of technical services, such as supervising maintenance work.
Gamit, based near London Stansted Airport, developed Roam in-house as a way to convert paper maintenance archives into intelligent PDFs that allow users to browse and search records, as well as performing audits and analysis. It can reduce the time to retrieve key records literally from days to a few seconds.
Crucially, explained Gamit general manager Nadeem Muhiddin, the system allows aircraft owners and operators to quickly find the so-called “dirty finger prints” that show where a maintenance supervisor has signed and recorded that a given task has been completed. These details are essential to establishing that every aspect of an aircraft’s maintenance record is as it should be---a point that is especially important with leased aircraft. Lessors will not accept a leased aircraft back from an operator without all records accounted for and can charge additional monthly fees if they are not complete.
“Aircraft records tend to be the bane of everyone’s life and sophisticated maintenance management systems don’t really keep records in this way,” Muhiddin told AIN. Roam is based on a form of artificial intelligence that searches metadata for the scanned aircraft records and uses optical character recognition to help search for specific information and details. For instance, users could run a report on all task card numbers in a maintenance work package and check that the tasks were all completed and recorded as such.
Customers have two ways to use the Roam system. They can purchase access to the Cloud-based system and load all the data themselves. Alternatively, Gamit can digitize the client’s records and then hand over the system for use. Both options include training, and prices vary according to the scale of an operation.
The technology had its origins in the late 1990s when Gamit (Booth I100) developed searchable documents stored on DVDs. It has since adjusted the system for Internet-based use. Muhiddin said that the idea to market Roam came from a conversation with a Swiss operator at last year’s EBACE show when an executive told him that it had once taken three days for a technician to find a single hard-copy maintenance record of airworthiness for a surveyor.
Gamit’s wider remit is to help operators and owners with many aspects of managing aircraft, including arrangements for maintenance. Muhiddin explained that some private aircraft operators prefer not to be visible in this respect and are glad to have a third party negotiating and supervising maintenance services. In other instances, they simply don’t have the manpower to take are of these duties.
The company was founded back in 1990 by Kadri Muhiddin (Nadeem’s father), who is also one of the leading shareholders in Swiss-based maintenance and completions group Amac Aerospace. It also provides CAMO support under the European Aviation Safety Agency’s Part M rules, as well as supervising maintenance work to ensure that all tasks have been completed as required, on time and on budget. Other services include supplying and leasing aircraft parts and consumables.
