Most maintenance providers are struggling to make lasting productivity improvements — even after years of investing in continuous improvement programs, Lean Six Sigma, mobile tools, and new training models. Despite doing many of the right things, the gains have often been limited, short lived, or abandoned once management attention shifted.
This is a challenge because maintenance organizations have consistently found it difficult to drive technician productivity to peak levels. Managers must balance workforce shortages, a mix of senior and junior technicians, rising expectations for autonomy among more tech savvy mechanics, and — in many cases — union environments with complex collective agreements.
Compounding the issue, many managers and supervisors are not fully equipped for their roles. They are often promoted from the technician ranks, given only basic management training, and then expected to lead teams of 10–15 people effectively. Without clear guidance, tools, or ongoing support, they are left to navigate a demanding operational environment largely on their own.
To address this shortcoming, aviation maintenance providers need to invest in and improve their active supervision models (ASM) and training, focusing on the critical role managers and supervisors play on the maintenance floor.
Aviation maintenance providers face challenges improving technician productivity
Fundamentally, aviation maintenance providers have struggled to get technicians performing at peak levels. Managers must juggle workforce shortages , varying skill levels, and evolving expectations from newer, more tech savvy mechanics — all within operational environments that may include complex union agreements.
However, many managers and supervisors do not fully understand how to perform their role effectively. Typically promoted from the technician pool, they receive only basic management training before being deployed into operations. They are then expected to guide teams of 10 to 15 technicians without the structure, tools, or support needed to succeed.
To close this gap, maintenance providers must strengthen their active supervision models and training, ensuring managers and supervisors have clear expectations and practical tools to support frontline operations.
How to design an active supervision model for maintenance managers
The goal of an ASM is to define how the maintenance organization expects managers and supervisors to carry out their daily work. The model outlines the full scope of supervisory activities across each day, week, and month — including start up and turnover meetings, floor tours to identify emerging issues, and 6S evaluations — along with the tools required to support these activities. Each element must be detailed, clear, and tactical.
The Exhibit shows a simplified example of an ASM for a line maintenance manager. As part of the model, the manager is expected to conduct up to four floor tours per day, visiting key locations such as points of work, free stock sites, and production control booths. A touring checklist supports these activities by tracking progress and ensuring consistency.
Guiding principles for a well designed ASM
- Refocus managers on the floor, reducing administrative burden so they can support technicians directly through touring, coaching, and real time problem solving.
- Define roles and expectations clearly, including objectives, accountabilities, sample calendars, and meeting standards embedded into performance management.
- Hold technicians accountable using benchmark timings, milestones, and playbooks that prepare managers for difficult performance conversations.
- Enable real time collaboration with tools that support remote assistance, escalation, and knowledge sharing across crews.
- Make meetings data driven, using dashboards or simple visual tools to ground discussions in facts rather than anecdotes.
- Integrate complementary activities, such as using floor tours to gather insights for shift handovers or continuous improvement.
- Provide regular feedback to supervisors, linking ASM adoption to KPIs and management by objectives to reinforce the right behaviours.
The ASM should be tailored to the organization’s culture and operational challenges. For example, if management teams are relatively junior, the model can include case based best practices to help them navigate difficult day to day situations. It can also incorporate mechanisms for supervisors to share challenges, gather peer feedback, and access broader organizational resources.
The ASM requires support from appropriate tools and technology. In some cases, this may be low tech, such as paper based touring checklists. In others, it may involve tools that provide real time data on maintenance demands and enable collaboration between crews and management. These tools can often be built on existing collaboration platforms without requiring specialized software.
Before implementation, organizations must deploy the necessary tools and provide sufficient training for all management levels. Clear touchpoints, KPIs, and guardrails should be established to ensure managers adopt the new model and do not revert to past practices.
In our experience, the ASM is most successful when treated as the central mechanism for continuous improvement — evolving dynamically as conditions change. The extent of this evolution, and management’s commitment to it, will determine the level of success.
Ultimately, the ASM aims to improve management effectiveness by equipping frontline leaders with the tools, support, and guidance they need to manage and learn from daily operations.