KLM Equipment Services (KES) operates as an independent subsidiary of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

KLM is the world's oldest airline still operating under its original name and the biggest operating airline in the Netherlands, carrying 34.1 million passengers and 621,000 tonnes of cargo, forming the heart of the KLM Group.

Since 1952, KLM Equipment Services (KES) has been the maintenance company for Ground Support Equipment at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, the world's fifth busiest international airport in terms of traffic, serving 319 destinations.

KES provides the aviation industry with solutions for Ground Support Equipment, ensuring that customers can work carefree. Due to the utmost importance of safety and predictability of airplanes, equipment, people, and procedures, KES has a very high standard to maintain at the airport.

KES was dealing with repetitive challenges that created a boomerang effect. Paper-based inspections can be time-consuming and error-prone, making it challenging to prepare inspections effectively.

Sometimes the inspection methodology needs to be updated because of new guidelines for a specific asset or machine or simply based on feedback from the inspectors.

This was often proven a difficult and time-consuming project that KES had to do themselves entirely without any assistance.

Training needed to be changed, all corresponding documents required to be updated, and a dilemma occurred on how to deal with the new methodology compared to past inspections.

Secondly, the preparation of inspections was very time & resource intensive. The inspections needed to be prepared and filed, often with corresponding documents necessary for the inspector.

Everything was documented on paper, making it difficult for other team members to access vital information, resulting in ineffective collaboration and preparation for inspections.

Read the use case: Delta Plus onboard Smartflow inspection solution while integrating customer portal features for increased transparency and collaboration

A paper-based inspection process can be overwhelming due to the amount of collected data, the exact steps that need to be followed, and the precise location of an asset.

Most importantly, with paper inspections, it is difficult to give the proper (follow-up) instructions for specific situations or based on the inspector's findings.

Often, therefore, the final inspection report is incomplete due to missing and wrong information caused by human error. This, in its turn, can result in data loss and inefficiency.

When keeping piles of hard-copy paper-based reports, there is always a risk of misplacing, losing, or even storing data non-compliantly.

On top of that, traditional inspection methods are not designed to keep everyone involved in the process. In other words, companies gain no insights into the inspectors’ & asset performance. With this in mind, KES needed to create a new preventive maintenance culture.

Inspectors are not fully enabled unless their work is directly visible to others (and vice versa). They often hand the paper to someone else who will store it somewhere.

Often, this situation leads to a chain of double work being carried out that could have been prevented if inspectors’ checks had become immediately available and visible digitally.

Risks increase when data is not visible right after it has been captured, especially when there are no automated alerts to validate certain findings.

The combination of Aboma's expertise in equipment inspections and Smartflow's knowledge in digitalizing inspections resulted in the digital AMTeK inspection application we know today.

With all the challenges that KES was facing, AMTeK was already proven. The inspection app helped KES equip their inspectors with a tool that eases and simplifies the inspection process by replacing paper-based inspections and checks with fully digital and standardized ones.

The AMTeK app helps KES workers become the center of a connected ecosystem by equipping inspectors with the proper tools that allow them to deliver and receive information online and offline, anytime and anywhere, improving their productivity while feeding into the productivity of their colleagues.

Simultaneously, giving better insights for all stakeholders involved by storing all the data in one place.

AMTeK provides a standardized inspection model for different kinds of equipment, requiring the inspector to follow a certain workflow to complete and submit a checklist.

The workflow guarantees that the inspector follows a certain procedure, ensuring the proper instructions and relevant follow-up questions are shown at the right time.

This process ensures quality by standardizing the collection of data. The flexibility and scalability of Smartflow have enabled KES to start using other checklists thanks to an easy and standardized process. Most importantly, the look & feel of these checklists is similar, minimizing users' onboarding and training efforts.

After using the AMTeK app, KLM Equipment Services has nurtured a standardized work environment that simplifies communication, data, and knowledge transfer. By uniting technology with field workers, they shaped a new generation of inspectors and led the way to smart ways of working.

The AMTeK application has proven successful thanks to the close collaboration between Aboma and Smartflow.

Due to their shared efforts, the AMTeK app has been constantly adding new improvements targeting the needs of inspectors. Aboma's strong knowledge in machinery, health & safety, and regulation supplies feedback directly from their customers, adding value to the complete AMTeK application.

Because of the Smartflow platform's flexibility, it is also possible to quickly implement this feedback into the solution.

Along with the introduction of the AMTeK app, there have been zero incomplete or faulty inspection reports leading to increased efficiency and safety.

A benefit of utilizing previous inspection records is being aware of what issues the machinery faced last year, which expedites the current inspection process. Instead of spending time on finding out the latest status of the equipment, the time saved is now focused on the thing that matters the most; the actual inspection.

Inspectors and office workers can access information digitally all in one place. This way, they can ensure a comprehensive and transparent knowledge transfer that prevents delays.

If an inspection is done on the same asset, they use the previous inspection (and its findings) as a basis for the new inspection. If there was a point of interest last year, then a direct follow-up is possible with the current inspection! 

KES can now automatically send reports to all important stakeholders. The inspectors have to perform little to no extra administrative work in addition to their inspection. This benefit encourages them to embrace digital technology, allowing them openness to new developments.

The inspection results being collected in a centralized database allows KES to identify trends and patterns in inspector performance, asset condition, and equipment reliability.

By examining this data, KES can gain valuable insights into areas where improvements can be made and identify potential risks or issues before they become major problems.

Which, in its turn, can lead to reduced downtime and increased operational efficiency.

Further, by tracking equipment performance over time, KES can identify patterns and trends that may indicate the need for maintenance or replacement.

This can help the airline proactively manage its equipment, reducing the risk of unexpected downtime or failures. In the case of AMTeK, the inspections also help to track inspector performance and identify areas where additional training may be needed.

This ensures that inspectors consistently perform inspections to the highest standards, leading to increased safety and reliability. 

This digital transformation has benefitted not only talent retention but a new generation of inspectors who are attracted to simplified processes and a smarter, more agile way of working. The new generation of workers is much more tech-savvy, making the inspection job at KLM Equipment Services much more attractive as well. 

Digitalization empowers inspectors to take more responsibility and look for new and better ways of performing their daily tasks. Tools that keep processes, systems, and reports up to date further encourage a culture of flexibility.

KLM Equipment Services has trusted Aboma and Smartflow to help eliminate the risks endangering the workers' safety and the quality of their machines.

The solution that Smartflow developed with Aboma allows companies like KLM Equipment Services to digitalize their entire inspection process easily. 

Field workers play a key role in driving better-informed operational and business decisions. They create a preventive maintenance mindset by generating a large amount of data necessary for these decisions to be accurate.

Still, similar companies continue to struggle with data-related issues. Some of the most frequently encountered challenges mentioned in this use case are collaboration, compliance, reporting, and data insights. And, of course, the ability to fully enable inspectors by providing them with the proper tools and insights.

Smartflow, together with Aboma, aims at helping customers like KES remain a market leader in the industry and have accurate and swift responses to their clients.

Data plays a big role in that and delivering more intelligent analysis. Hence Smartflow and Aboma will continue to improve how inspections are done in the field.

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