You bump into a friend you have not spoken with in a while. The friend asks “so…are you still with Jane?” What should be a simple yes or no answer turns into a slightly awkward and delayed answer from you; “it’s complicated”. Use of the “it’s complicated” strategy  means that in order to be truthful with your friend, a quick answer will not do, and that the choice to give any additional details is optional (due to time limits or level of trust), and further, that if you don’t give any additional...

As the title infers, this is part II. If you have not read Part I, please look back at the previous blog by the same title. The data which triggered my thought process was this graph, created by our friends at ICF International:   Let’s understand the basis for this data; from ICF: “Alternatives to new OEM parts are therefore a big deal. PMA parts are the best known, yet have achieved a modest 2% market share after decades of effort. A less glamorous, but fast-growing alternative is surp...

In college many of you took Micro and Macro Economics. You likely remember that those classes were characterized by the numbing number of graphs; recall those Supply-Demand curves? I liked those graphs. To a certain extent they were intuitive, and you could derive a great deal of information from them. I hope to do that with this blog. I have not seen these graphs before, so I’m having geeky fun expressing latent talents for academia. Recently, our friends at ICF International published econ...

Ok, time to stir the pot a bit. I know there is a silent majority of people out there who roll their eyes while simultaneously pressing their lips at the mention of Approved Supplier Lists; they look at it as a necessary evil; a constant source of findings on internal and external audits; a down-right thorn in the side! On the other hand, many of those same people, when presented the opportunity to get on a major customer’s Approved Supplier List, are heard to herald their unflinching dedicati...

During my youthful days at a major airline, I distinctly recall a close friend who had just been promoted to an important position. After a while, I asked him ‘What could you have done to be better prepared for the job?’ Without hesitation, he said ‘I wish I had been more familiar with the GPM.’ Every airline has a GMM (General Maintenance Manual) or equivalent GPM (General Procedures Manual). It is thee operations manual for instructions on how the Maintenance Division conducts its business, ...