Aircraft maintenance planners!

The production planner role has different requirements depending on which company you work for. Often the role as a production planner will involve reviewing scheduled work packages provided by short term or mid term planners. This includes checking parts, tooling, manpower, qualified staff to perform the work and making any necessary changes. In this role the planner monitors the plan for each aircraft until it arrives. In other companies, the production planner role can be a combination of mid term, short term, base and production planning. 

Short term planners usually focus on planning line maintenance and following AOG's. They plan any maintenance tasks that are due within the next 10 days (this figure may differentiate depending on the company). These tasks can vary from defects to scheduled line maintenance tasks. For example: daily checks, partial gear lubrications and database updates.

Mid term planners usually focus on planning light maintenance most commonly carried out in a hangar. These inputs usually do not last longer than 12hrs. They will forecast a plan of all the hangar visits over a certain time period and ensure all requirements are adhered to. Some examples of planned maintenance are: 'A & P checks' , '12000h checks, engine changes and many more.

Base planners often establish a long term maintenance plan and will be planning heavy aircraft checks. This type of heavy maintenance means that often aircraft components can be sent away for overhaul, the cabin could be stripped out and major modifications could be carried out.