Reducing FMEA
Analysis Time by 50%
|
Skypath Analytics transformed KC-135 landing gear sustainment for the U.S. Air Force using mission-driven MBSE, cutting the most labor-intensive phase of analysis in half with MADE.
FMEA Analysis Time
Fleet Data Analyzed
FMEA Report Generation
Risk Twin Model
When a 60-Year-Old Aircraft Needs 21st-Century Reliability
The KC-135 has been the backbone of U.S. Air Force aerial refueling for decades. Keeping it flying safely means continuously updating the reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) analysis for its most critical systems, including the landing gear.
But the data to do that work was scattered. Historical maintenance records lived in siloed legacy systems, manually disconnected from one another. The digital thread wasn't digital at all, it was a paper chain requiring engineers to stitch together datasets by hand before any analysis could begin.
The 448th Supply Chain Management Wing of the Air Force Sustainment Center turned to Skypath Analytics to fix that. The task: build a modern, model-based reliability analysis for the KC-135 landing gear that could support not just today's maintenance decisions, but every decision going forward.
From Static Spreadsheets to a Living, Breathing System Model
Skypath imported all raw historical fleet data and generated a report identifying the top drivers causing maintenance work across every landing gear subsystem over the past ten years, including reliability, maintainability, and supply chain factors like parts unavailability.
Using PHM technology's MADE, Skypath constructed a model-based digital risk twin of the complete landing gear system, encoding every failure mode for every subsystem. Engineers could then inject failures and simulate propagation effects across the entire system with a single click.
Rather than flagging isolated failures, the MADE model revealed how issues in one subsystem cascaded into others. This systems-level view enabled true root cause analysis, shifting the conversation from 'what broke' to 'why it broke and what it affects.
Once top causes were identified, engineers ran cost-benefit analyses inside MADE for every corrective option, redesign, new supplier, adjusted maintenance plan. Each option was quantified and presented to the customer for an informed, defensible decision.
“FMEA was the most costly and labor-intensive aspect of the project. However, since this functionality is built into MADE, we could do this task in approximately 50 percent less time.”
Measurable Results. A Model That Keeps Delivering.
Reduction in FMEA Analysis Time
By replacing manual spreadsheet analysis with MADE's built-in FMEA functionality, the most labor-intensive project phase was cut in half.
Validated Top Reliability Drivers
Failure injection simulations confirmed which subsystems were the genuine root causes of fleet-wide maintenance activity, not just symptoms.
Reusable Digital Risk Twin
The model built in MADE is now a living asset. Future reliability, maintainability, and cost-benefit analyses can be run on demand, no rebuild required.
See What MADE Can Do for Your Sustainment Program
If your team is spending weeks on manual FMEA, working from siloed data, or struggling to connect root causes to system-level outcomes, there's a better way. Talk to a PHM Technology RAMS MBSE specialist.
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