Lentokalustohankintojen suorien vastakauppojen toteutus ja kaluston ylläpito lentokaluston keskuskorjaamoilla

Abstract

Johdanto Ulkomailta tehtävissä suurissa sotilasmateriaalin hankinnoissa pyritään kotimaasta ulos menevää valuuttamäärää pienentämään tekemällä osa valmistuksesta vastakauppoina kotimaassa. Tavallisesti suorien vastakauppojen kohteena ovat kaluston loppukokoonpanot ja testaukset, joilla saadaan kotimaahan työn lisäksi kaluston koko elinjakson aikaisessa ylläpidossa tarvittavaa tietämystä, laitteistoa ja osaamista. Toisena kohteena ovat joidenkin omiin resursseihin ja tarpeisiin sopivien osien valmistus, joilla kehitetään valmistus- ja korjausosaamista.

Tutkimus Tutkimusotteena on kuvaileva tapaustutkimus, jossa tutkimuksen pääkohteena on Ilmavoimien 1990-luvulla tehty Hornet-hankinta ja sitä täydentävänä tutkimuskohteena 1980-luvulla tehty Hawk-hankinta. Tutkimuksen pääkysymys on: Miten uuden lentokaluston loppukokoonpanot ja testaukset on valmisteltu ja toteutettu suomalaisilla keskuskorjaamoilla ja sen jatkona miten ne vaikuttavat kaluston ylläpitoon. Lisäkysymyksenä on: Millaisia uusia innovaatioita voisi kehittää asioiden hoitamiseksi nykyistä paremmin. Tutkimuksen pääosan muodostavat deskriptiiviset kuvaukset suoriksi vastakaupoiksi valittujen lentokoneen ja sen laitteiden loppukokoonpanojen valmistelusta, toteutuksesta ja kaluston käytön aikaisen ylläpidon aloitusvaiheesta keskuskorjaamoilla (miten asiat olivat tai miten ne toteutettiin).

Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan ja kuvataan tutkimuskokonaisuuteen liittyvinä tekijöinä erikseen toimintaympäristöä, osaamisen kehittymistä, työn oppimista ja työmenetelmiä, toimintojen ja tieto-aineiston sovittamista uusiin olosuhteisiin ja vastakaupan periaatteita sekä koko prosessin toimintaa.

Päätavoitteen (kuvaukset) lisäksi on tarkasteltu osa-alueilla kohteita, joissa nykyistä käytäntöä voitaisiin parantaa (miten asiat voitaisiin toteuttaa nykyistä käytäntöä paremmin). Näitä preskriptiivisiä metodeja (miten asiat pitäisi hoitaa), jotka toimivat paremmin kuin käytetty metodi (miten asiat hoidettiin) on tarkasteltu innovaation toteutuksena.

Tulokset ja johtopäätökset Tutkimuksen päätuloksena ovat Hornet- ja Hawk - hankintojen suorien vastakauppaprojektien toteutuksen sekä kaluston keskuskorjaamotasoisen ylläpidon toteutuksen kuvaukset, joiden perusteella on kehitetty preskriptiiviset metodit osaamisen siirtämiseksi, ohjeiden sovittamiseksi uuteen ympäristöön, alihankintatyön arvioimiseksi ja vastakauppojen valinnan helpottamiseksi.

Tarkasteltujen esimerkkien mukaan oikein valittujen vastakauppatöiden hyöty kasvaa pelkästä loppukokoonpanosta ja testauksesta lentokaluston koko käyttöiän kattavaksi ylläpitohyödyksi, joka on huomioitava kustannustarkasteluissa. Varsinkin osaamisen kehittymisen kannalta on edullista, että kokoonpanija jatkaa kaluston ylläpitäjänä.

Ylläpidon ja sen ohjeiden sovittaminen lentokaluston käytön uusia (kulloinkin todellisia) olosuhteita vastaavaksi on paljon laajempi ja tärkeämpi prosessi, kuin yleisesti ohjeiden kääntämisellä kieleltä toiselle ymmärretään. Sovittamisella varmistetaan kaluston käytettävyys, turvallisuus ja parannetaan samalla kaluston käytön taloudellisuutta.

Mahdolliset sovellutukset Lentokalustoprojektien lisäksi tutkimuksessa kuvattuja ja esitettyjä metodeja voidaan käyttää myös muissa vastakauppojen toteutuksissa, osaamisen ja teknologian siirroissa, piensarjatöiden arvioinneissa sekä suurta käyttöturvallisuutta ja jatkuvaa ylläpitoa vaativan kaluston hankinnassa ja ylläpidossa.

Research objectives and research problems Buyers of military aviation equipment currently required that the equipment pur-chased should be assembled and tested domestically (assuming that the quantity of equipment purchased is big enough and that its maintenance has been planned to be carried out domestically). The aim of the purchaser is to create jobs in the home country and also in the lifelong maintenance of the equipment to acquire the necessary devices and expertise. Frequently, too, the purchaser wants certain parts to be manufactured in the home country in order to acquire expertise there-in. Generally such transactions are conducted as offset airplane acquisitions with the domestic manufacturer in the role of vendor s subcontractor (contract supply). In the negotiations and implementation of the offset transaction, it is important that both vendor and purchaser should be familiar with the whole deal and its components both theoretically and in practice, and that they should have appro-priate working methods at their disposal.

Major military materiel acquisitions are so rare that personnel in the course of their careers may be involved at most in only a few offset transaction negotia-tions. Vendors, ways of doing business and negotiation situations vary, but in offset deal negotiations and preparations the same matters are addressed, thus an understanding of the entity and experience of earlier cases is beneficial.

Since this is a matter of military materiel, information released on the subject is not very specific. The most essential information on the reasons for events and the details thereof remain with the individuals concerned. Only the main events and decisions are preserved in the archives. Many archives are business secrets which are not readily disclosed.

The main question in the study is: How did the Finnish central repair shops prepare and implement the final assembly and testing of the aviation equipment and thereafter how did they influence its maintenance? An additional question is: What manner of new innovations could be developed in order to take care of things better than at present? The research report was written using the expressions used in the target facili-ties.

Research methods The research object subsumes functions in numerous areas, thus the study was conducted with an interdisciplinary approach. This is a descriptive case study in which the main research object is the acquisition of Hornet fighter planes by the Finnish Air Force and a supplementary research object is the acquisition of Hawk planes in the 1980s.

The main part of the study comprises descriptions of the planes and accesso-ries selected for the offset deal and their assembly; how this was prepared, im-plemented and the early stages of the use of the materiel from the beginning in the central repair shop (how things were and how they were done).

The study explores and describes as parts of the whole system the operating environment, the development of expertise, learning to do the work and the prin-ciples of the offset transaction, how functions and data were adapted to the new conditions and the principles of the offset transaction, likewise the process as a whole in real instances.

In addition to the main objective (descriptions) objectives in the subfields are examined in which there would be room for improvement in present practices (how things could be done better than at present). These prescriptive methods (how things ought to be done), which work better than the method used (how things really were done) are scrutinized as an implementation of an innovation. Since the study is concerned with functions in different areas the descriptions of the new methods are located in connection with the description in the report so that it is easier for the reader to compare the methods used and the methods pro-posed.

Sources of information were mostly the purchaser s (PE, PlM and the Finnish Air Force) the vendor s (MDA, BAe, GE, Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca), the im-plementer s (Patria) brochures, archives, and documents and literature published on the research object. The research is based on the author s own experiences and confirmed by interviews conducted with individuals participating in the pro-jects.

Findings and conclusions The main finding of the study comprises the descriptions of the direct offset transactions projects (final assembly and testing of the aviation materiel and parts manufacture), likewise descriptions of maintenance conducted at the level of cen-tral repair shop.

On the basis of the descriptions prescriptive methods have been developed for the transfer of expertise, for adapting instructions to the new environment, for as-sessing subcontractor work and facilitating the selection of offset transac-tions.

According to the examples examined the benefit of well chosen offset transac-tions increases from mere final assembly and testing to maintenance benefit throughout the useful life of the equipment. In the final assembly work and prep-aration thereof a great deal of preparation for future maintenance is accomplished, so that in the profitability assessment note must be taken of maintenance. From the perspective of the development of expertise in particular it is advisable for the assembler to continue as the maintainer of the materiel.

It is a much more extensive and important process to adapt maintenance and its instructions to correspond to the new (each real) conditions than is generally meant(translating instructions form one language to another. Such adaption en-sure that the equipment is useable, safe and also improves the economy of its use. The best information for maintenance and use is contained in the original de-sign information on the equipment, thus the purchaser should ensure right at the point of acquisition that he obtains the necessary user rights to the design infor-mation.

Most of the methods have not been tested. A method for assessing the work curve was used based on learning curve theory for the analysis of the data of this study.

The method would appear to be applicable, at least in the post-evaluation of the projects. The objects presented in the study have been analyzed separately by researchers in several fields: here they are processed in connection with the final assembly and maintenance of aviation equipment.

Potential applications In addition to aviation equipment projects, the methods described and presented here can also be used in the implementation of other offset transactions, in the transfer of expertise and technology and in the acquisition and maintenance of equipment needing constant maintenance.

The adaptations method of the instructions can be used more generally in the transfer of knowledge to new conditions. In industry it is applicable to demand-ing projects to be located in new surroundings. These might be large power fa-cilities, computer centers, hospital equipment, traffic systems and the like. It is advisable to utilize previous experiences in future projects and to stress that original data and the necessary rights thereto should be obtained when the transaction is completed.