United Services - News & Media

News & Media : New Faces

Jerry Bemis

In May 2007, Jerry Bemis joined the United Services team as managing director–Line Maintenance. He comes to the maintenance base in San Francisco with a widely varied background in aviation, including everything from flying aircraft to working for a large national airline to helping create a working and thriving structure for a struggling small airline that serves private owner groups. He brings a wealth of experience and a contagious optimism to United Services’ line maintenance division.

Q: What are some ways in which you feel your experience in maintenance before you joined United Services will serve you as you take on this new position?

A: I have a pretty broad background. At Delta I had an even mixture—ten years each—of hangar and line maintenance experience. I was general manager in the hangar, where we worked on airplanes, not components. This gave me a good feel for production and this is where I first learned about Lean, though we had a different name for it. My ten years in line maintenance gave me an overall operational perspective, letting me see how an airline really works.

At Flight Options my experience was quite different, much more intense. From day to day we literally didn’t know where the planes would be flying. There were general trends throughout the year, but nothing definite. I had to learn to be flexible and I had to build a structure for an airline that had none. In 24 months we moved from surviving to sustaining to improving. By the end of two years, we were held up by the FAA as an example of how things should be done.

Coming to United from these two very different experiences will allow me to use a little of all the things I have learned along the way. Here, there are lots of good people doing lots of good work. My job is all about refinement and support. I just ask myself, what can I do to help people do their best work?

Q: What excites you most about coming to United Services?

A: That’s a pretty easy answer. I was attracted to two things in particular: Lean and the MRO work. As I said, I have some experience with Lean and am excited to see how these strategies can really transform what we do here. The MRO work is an interesting interconnect with the world. It’s a great source of internal pride knowing that we worked on another carrier’s airplane and were able to provide a valuable service for them.

Q: How has your experience as a pilot affected the way in which you will manage line maintenance stations and teams at United Services?

A: You never forget what you learn as a pilot. I grew up around planes; it’s in my blood. My father built the first plane he learned to fly and was a B-25 crewmember in World War II. He both flew and worked on aircraft, but I felt I needed to decide to do one or the other. Though I choose to work on planes instead of flying them, I never forget to look at things from the crew’s point of view. We don’t want to become callous. We want to be able to imagine what’s happening on the plane when a problem arises and how it affects those on board. It gives you a different sense of urgency to fix the problem when you remember that perspective.

Q: What are some of your plans for line maintenance in the coming months?

A: I am very keen on Lean. I am interested to see how United Services uses it and how we can move it forward. I also want to ‘balance the scorecard,’ so to speak. We want to be efficient, but we also want to keep the aspect of quality in sight. If we focus on metrics at too high a level, we may lose track of smaller scale issues and possibly lose opportunities to give excellent service to our customers. We need to dig deeper and know, for example, if there is a delay what is the reason for that delay? Is it a parts issue, a logistics issue, a training issue? Efficiency and quick turn times are great, but we also want to do things right the first time. That is taking advantage of opportunities.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?

A: I am really pleased with the warm reception I have had. I am excited by the opportunity to bring a fresh perspective and help the teams grow. I am also interested in implementing a mentor program to connect senior and junior managers so that the lines of communication stay open and people can share ideas, experience, and energy.