Stretching Dollars

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed technologies to lower maintenance costs for the Navy and to automate more tasks at the factory. The scope of the institute’s engineering research has also grown from its origins in textiles, ceramics, and early helicopter—or autogyro—design. Today, student and faculty researchers in Georgia Tech’s Logistics and Maintenance Applied Research Center—LandMARC—are using the latest information technology to reduce the maintenance and logistics costs for aircraft, I transit buses, and emergency vehicles. The first project undertaken by LandMARC is expected to reduce the cost of maintaining the US Navy’s aging fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion anti-submarine aircraft by more than $1 million per year. Georgia Tech and Navy personnel are concentrating on improving the diagnostic techniques for the Orion’s engine-driven compressor because it is the airplane’s single most costly repair item. The compressor supplies air to several key aircraft systems, including internal pressurization, engine start, and air conditioning.