When Parts Are At A Premium Here’s Why Disassembly Is More Than Just Teardown

Teardown, disassembly, reverse manufacturing… Whatever you call it, it should be high-quality. If an aircraft has roughly three life stages - build, operate, exit - the final phase should be as efficient and high-quality as its build and operation.

Teardown is definitely good for some aircraft, where there is less to salvage. It works well with a 50-year-old aircraft where you’re just looking at the aluminium price, and perhaps memorabilia for collectors. It also depends on where you are in the world. If space is not at a premium, it’s easier to park up a plane and break it up slowly. But if you need components to get another aircraft back in the sky, or space is harder to come by, then fast, precise disassembly may be more useful.

The disassembly process however will help with the pressure on parts in our industry. Supply chain difficulties are slowing up delivery of new parts, and new aircraft are not coming on stream at a rate that keeps pace with demand. Expert disassembly is one way to provide used serviceable materials to see today’s flying fleet through the supply chain delays.

ecube offer this service to airlines to supply parts to other aircraft within the same type (as far as is possible). Of course, the parts need to come out in a way that means they can be used again after overhaul, keeping their fleet flying for longer.

A high-quality disassembly will also support an organisation’s environmental credentials. Reusing parts reduces the need for the energy and rare materials to make new ones.

It’s not about parts at any price though. In an industry where safety issues are always raised, parts need to be certified. So the only way to carry out this level of disassembly is with specialists. In order to take it apart with care, the disassembly team needs to understand how the aircraft was put together. At ecube, many of our team come from Airlines, MROs, or the OEMs. They’re industry veterans, often with years of maintenance experience behind them.

The Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association [AFRA] sets best practice guidelines across the disassembly sector and ecube have the highest accreditation [Diamond Level] across all three base locations for disassembly. Long gone are the days, at least from our perspective, of parking an aircraft in the desert and harvesting parts as and when. On average, we disassemble aircraft for our customers in 3-5 weeks and in some recent cases have completed projects in 2 weeks, all whilst following AFRA’s Diamond Level Accreditation best practices.

For precision parts, which meet the industry standards you need expert disassembly. We are trusted by the industry leaders to take their aircraft and engines apart and recycle serviceable, certified parts to keep them running for longer.

If you’re interested in disassembly, Visit Contact | ecube Solutions