The Case for Advanced Electronic Performance Support (EPSS)
Equipment is more reliable, yet harder to fix
Modern equipment, though more reliable, is increasingly complex. While components in reliable equipment don't fail routinely, the complexity of the systems and the sheer number of components involved mean that many non-routine failures do occur. In addition, cross-system effects of perfectly functioning components can result in failures at a system level due to unanticipated interactions. The net effect of this is that no one person can possibly "know it all", making it essential for organizations to pool knowledge as a collective asset.
Growing Shortage of Technical Expertise
At the same time, a combination of economic and social factors are coming together to create a shortage of experienced technicians in the aerospace industry (both commercial and military) and other industries that rely on complex equipment, systems and processes.
Perhaps the greatest of these factors is the grey out of the baby boomer generation as thousands of North America's most experienced technicians reach retirement age and prepare to take their irreplaceable knowledge with them. In the recent "2008 Job Forecast," conducted by Harris Interactive, over 3,016 hiring managers and human resource professionals in private sector companies were interviewed. Nearly 30 percent said they are concerned over the loss of intellectual capital at their organizations as a large number of Baby Boomers approach retirement age. In organizations where technical expertise is required, the impact is even greater.
Add to this the rising competitive demand for expertise in many emerging markets such as China, where the aerospace industry is growing in leaps and bounds. As a new and aggressive player in this market, China is starved for technical expertise and willing to pay top dollar to get it. And it is not just international competition siphoning off technical talent from aerospace companies (among the hardest hit). The situation is further complicated by unprecedented growth in the oil industry, for example, which is luring away many of the most skilled with the combined attraction of simpler equipment (than typical modern aircraft) and more money.
EPSS - A Strategy for the Future
While any organization that deals with the repair and maintenance of complex equipment is impacted by these pressures, the military aerospace sector has been hit particularly hard. As such, they have been among the first to consider strategies for dealing with the combined effects of grey out and the brain drain. One such strategy is to introduce effective Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS).
EPSS are systems that provide technicians with the information, advice and learning experiences they need to get up to speed as quickly as possible and with the least possible amount of support from other people. In the military context, EPSS has been used to describe the merging of technical manuals, troubleshooting support systems and training elements into one seamless electronic support mechanism. The objective of this approach is to shorten the up-front training cycle to bring technicians online faster, while supporting them with extensive, easily accessible resources and just in time training on the job as needed.
To discuss how CaseBank can help your organization capture, preserve and maximize existing expertise, contact us today.
A maintenance technician, newly endorsed on an aircraft, is assigned for the first time to this type of aircraft. Although he is experienced on other aircraft, he still feels a certain uneasiness. Aircraft are very complex. There is no possible way for the new technician to become an instant expert. His classroom training gave him a basic understanding of how the aircraft systems work normally and how they are repaired, but he knows that these complex systems don't always fail in predictable ways. In many cases the manuals do not help – he must rely on the help of more experienced technicians who have seen such failures before. The only problem is that the technicians with that experience never seem to be around when needed.
When he arrives at the aircraft and checks the logbook, the technician finds that a critical system is failing intermittently. The pilots are complaining about unreliable operation. Following the troubleshooting manual does not isolate the fault. He tries swapping computers, but to no avail. Is it a software bug? An intermittent hardware component? A chafed wire somewhere in the miles of wiring that run through the aircraft? He suspects another technician may know the solution to this problem, but he has no idea where to find that person. He involves more and more people in the troubleshooting, and changes more and more parts. Soon, the Station Operations Center is screaming to get the aircraft back into operation. Finally, the solution is found. It turns out that there is a connector on the aft pressure bulkhead that has corroded, causing intermittent behavior in the system. Now the new technician knows something that very few other technicians know.
With CaseBank's guided diagnostic support, had this problem been seen before, the technician would have been quickly guided to it. If not, then this solution has already been captured by the software, and after expert validation, would be made available to the next technician who is presented with the problem.
Click for more examples...