Success in the MRO industry usually hinges on one thing: fast turnaround time. This is dependent on many factors, but there are tools and techniques to speed up the overall process. One of these tools is the electronic logbook, which can significantly enable faster troubleshooting of aircraft. In its traditional, paper-based form, a logbook allows an MRO company and a pilot to easily share information. This makes it easy to keep track of an aircraft’s issues and repair history, and also assists in future troubleshooting. However, this method is also limited, because pilots and maintenance teams can only share information for as long as they are in physical possession of the logbook. The best way to solve this problem is to go digital. Digitizing minimizes silos of information One of the biggest problems with paper-based logbooks is that the information they contain is essentially in a silo, largely inaccessible to either the pilot or maintenance team when they don’t have physical possession of the logbook. In short, communication between the two teams is severely limited. An Electronic Logbook (ELB) records and transmits logbook entries, allowing mechanics to prepare all necessary materials and content even before the aircraft arrives. Through an ELB, mechanics can troubleshoot more quickly, enabling you to resolve issues at the critical point of turning the aircraft for your passengers. Electronic logbook records also provide the ability to better understand trends within your aircraft or an entire fleet in order to fix the root cause. Consider two scenarios: Using a paper-based logbook, a maintenance organization is more or less unaware of what’s happening to an aircraft mid-flight. If a pilot runs into trouble while flying, he would note down the problem, but the maintenance team wouldn’t be able to start working until the plane has landed. Using an electronic logbook, a pilot could just record any faults in the app. Thanks to real-time connectivity, the crew on the ground would immediately be made aware of the problem, and they can immediately proceed with troubleshooting and sourcing parts and labor. Repairs can start as soon as the aircraft lands. This convenience goes both ways. Pilots about to go on flights no longer have to wait until they’re at the aircraft to learn of its status. They can simply go on a tablet from the ground outside the aircraft, checking on logged faults and seeing how they might affect their trip. In short, using an ELB, coupled with mobile and cloud capability, drastically improves turnaround time by streamlining communication within the entire MRO and aviation chain. An ELB provides several core benefits: It provides visibility into the operation from anywhere, with parallel access to logbook information by multiple persons at the same time. It tracks the life cycle of corrective actions, improving turn-around performance. It considers human factors, reducing errors. It is easily integrated into your legacy Maintenance Information System (MIS) via its ground component Line Manager. Aside from turnaround and troubleshooting times, there is also the matter of safety. Relying on a paper logbook significantly reduces access to the log, as engineers and maintenance personnel would have to wait for passengers to disembark first. At best, this causes a slight delay, and at worst, this allows for a crucial fault to be discovered late. A fully connected workforce using electronic logbooks is able to minimize these delays and errors in operations. However, this is just one way to optimize MRO processes and keep turnaround times down. It is still important to manage the supply chain, keep track of manpower, and continually update contracts and billing records. The good news is, all of these can be achieved using the right software and technology, and one example of that is EmpowerMX’s Electronic Log Book (ELB) and Line Manager modules. To learn more on how you can optimize your operations and accelerate your maintenance processes, contact us today!