Each day, Jazz Aviation, a contract carrier for Air Canada, operates approximately 750 flights across North America, carrying roughly 30,000 passengers. Helping keep those planes in the air: AV俱乐部 professors and students.
Claver Diallo, associate professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, has been working with Jazz Aviation for many years. His work focuses on developing decision-support tools for the management of aircraft maintenance operations.
Dr. Diallo explains that repairs and maintenance are critical to keeping Jazz Aviation鈥檚 planes up and running, and like all commercial carriers the company must avoid costly delays wherever and whenever possible. This means ensuring replacement parts are always available for aircraft at their take-off and landing destinations 鈥� a feat which can be expensive if planned poorly, since having excess parts on hand can lead to obsolete or expired inventory. 聽
鈥淚ndustrial Engineering is about improving the efficiency of any industry,鈥� says Dr. Diallo. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 airlines, manufacturing or healthcare 鈥� if there is an opportunity to improve, we can contribute.鈥�
In 2008, Jazz Aviation began hiring co-op students from Dal鈥檚 Industrial Engineering program. The company has hosted over a dozen students since then, employing five of them full-time following graduation.
Tackling real-world problems
Mark Manser is one of the most recent students to be hired by Jazz Aviation for his work as part of his master鈥檚 project. He鈥檚 been developing an algorithm to simulate flights and test different possible allocation policies for spare parts to see which are the most effective and efficient.
鈥淏eing involved in this university-industry partnership provided me with the opportunity to work on a real-world problem with a large scope,鈥� says Manser.
The company has had great experiences working with Dal students.
鈥淚t all started in 2005 with the hiring of two fresh I.E. graduates out of Dal,鈥� says Lisa Vad, manager of continuous improvement and project management at Jazz Aviation. 鈥淔rom this decision came the realization that this [industrial engineering] skill set was extremely valuable to have onsite.鈥�
The partnership has continued to grow, thanks to multiple grants awarded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the supervision time and available data offered by Jazz Aviation and their employees, and Engineering professors Eldon Gunn and Alireza Ghasemi.
鈥淲e are hoping to keep on strengthening this relationship and ensuring that the students produce the best quality deliverables possible,鈥� says Dr. Diallo. 鈥淭o work with and learn from the leader in the regional airline industry is a big win.鈥�