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initiated: shipment of the component or accessory to Duncan Aviation; thor- ough inspection (and testing) by a spe- cialist; development (and approval) of a repair estimate; shipment of an in-house loaner unit to customer (if applicable); repair of the component; shipment back to the customer; final payment. The customer account representative closely monitors and manages every step of the process.
“My job is unique in that I bridge the gap between the customer and the shop,” said Theis. “When I am in the shop, I am an advocate for the customer. When I am speaking to the customer, I am an advocate for the shop. So, it is so important for me to understand and communicate effectively why and how a repair is taking place.”
At any given time, Andrew can be managing around 280 work orders. De- pending on the situation, the shop pri- oritizes the work to meet the guidelines set by Andrew and the other CARs. The typical target is to have the component repaired and back in the hands of the customer within 10 working days. But there are situations where this can be cut down to less than 24 hours.
“Our default response is to do every- thing in our power to make the custom- er’s deadline,” said Theis. “And while some cases can be classified as urgent, the ‘why’ is less important. It’s nice to know, but in every situation, their target is our target.”
A Touchdown
Football is a big deal in Lincoln, Ne- braska. For every home game, there are
thousands of Cornhusker students, alum- ni and fans that descend upon the Uni- versity of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. This includes dozens of aircraft arriv- ing at Duncan Aviation’s home air- port of LNK.
Late one Friday evening, prior to a ma- jor home game, a local medevac operator put in an urgent call to Duncan Aviation regarding what appeared to be a malfunc- tioning ELT. The operator was unable to troubleshoot the issue and as a result, the aircraft was grounded in California until the unit could be repaired or replaced.
Andrew responded to the call and relayed details of the issue to the appropriate technicians in the shop. They confirmed the ELT was the likely culprit. Andrew then arranged for ex- pedited shipping of the faulty unit from California to Lincoln. By midnight, the ELT was dropped at their front desk.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, game day traffic was already in full swing. A Duncan Aviation technician (one who was not originally scheduled to go into work) worked his way through traffic to retrieve the unit for inspection. Back at the shop, he was able to quickly diagnose the issue and produce a cost estimate, which the customer promptly approved over the phone.
Once the job and paperwork were complete, the next step was getting the unit back on an airplane to California. While the unusually high airport activ- ity presented some logistical obstacles, Andrew was able to coordinate with the courier and make it happen: the repaired unit was back in the hands of the cus- tomer by 6 p.m.
In less than 24 hours, the broken unit was shipped across the country, fixed and reinstalled on the airplane, allow- ing the medevac to be back in the air at a moment’s notice.
Closing Thoughts
While not all of us need a “24-hour turnaround” service, it’s nice to know that there are MRO facilities and peo- ple like Andrew that can make that happen. In the highly competitive MRO market, customer care, clear communica- tion and timely turnarounds are expected – and that’s lucky for us when we run into the unexpected.
Air eet Capital, Inc.
At any given time, Andrew Theis (left) can be managing 200-plus repair orders.
April 2019 / TWIN & TURBINE • 11