American Airlines Maintenance Turn-Around Assisted by TeamSAI.

Business Editors

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2003

In these tough economic times American Airlines has taken aggressive steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Their efforts have been focused under the "Turnaround Plan - Pull Together, Win Together" program. An example of how this effort is providing results involved the development of a multi-departmental cross-functional team to address the needs of the supply-chain process. What started out as a way to improve parts distribution to mechanics at the AA Alliance-Fort Worth maintenance facility turned into a savings of $15 Million in aircraft parts and contributed to a 74% improvement in production performance.

Dave Campbell, AA Vice President - Alliance and Kansas City Maintenance Bases said: "In the Maintenance & Engineering world, improving the supply-chain process is a critical part of our overall effort to lower costs, which is a key point of AA's Turnaround Plan." The cross-functional team was established, under the leadership of TeamSAI, a Denver-based aviation consulting and services firm. The team checked their feelings at the conference room door and made an oath to see the task through to the end. This team has developed a list of over 150 action items, 60% of which have been acted on, that have resulted in improved effectiveness of the supply-chain and the re-establishment of confidence in the supply-chain process. Campbell went on to say, "TeamSAI provided the leadership and supply-chain expertise needed to place into motion one of the most productive cross-functional activities seen at AA Technical Operations."

Not only has over $15 million worth of aircraft parts have been re-allocated eliminating the need for purchase; cost to expedite parts from out-stations has been reduced by 80%. Additionally, year-over-year production performance has improved by 74%, which is due in no small part to the improvements in the supply-chain process. Peter Sirucek, AA Managing Director - Aircraft Overhaul and Components said, "This process eliminated a lot of cross-departmental barriers and was one of the most successful efforts to solve a productivity issue that had a profound effect on the schedule of main base visit checks."

This is a process that has proven to be successful and the team will now be focused on other tasks. Campbell pointed out that, "Under the leadership of TeamSAI, our supply-chain process improvement team developed the confidence and respect to make significant contributions to the AA Turnaround Plan and I am sure they will continue to make such contributions well into the future."

TeamSAI is a Denver-based company specializing in strategic and technical aviation operations and financial consulting; engineering support services and retained executive searches.