John Warren explains how Ultramain’s pioneering commitment to paperless processes has freed clients to concentrate on what matters

John Warren has been in the aviation industry for nearly 40 years and holds a BBA in computer science from the University of New Mexico. For more than 38 years, he has served as the Executive Vice President over the M&E division, IT, and QA at Ultramain Systems. Mr. Warren is the Chief Architect of ULTRAMAIN.

Aircraft IT: Your name, your job title, and the name of the business?

John Warren: John Warren, Executive Vice President, Ultramain Systems

Aircraft IT: How did Ultramain Systems get started?

JW: ULTRAMAIN® was first developed in 1980 with the goal of providing best practices and efficient operations to the aviation industry. Since that time, the business has undergone several technology enhancements to ensure we continue to provide the industry and our customer base with a best-in-class, integrated, comprehensive and easy-to-use system.

Aircraft IT: What is the guiding business principle that drives Ultramain Systems?

JW: A fundamental belief that aviation software serves more than a utilitarian purpose. Everything we do should help the industry be more efficient, reduce costs, and improve compliance.

Aircraft IT: What has Ultramain Systems’s greatest business achievement been to date, and why?

JW: It would have to be the leadership role that we have played in paperless operations. Paperless has been promised for decades but no-one put together a comprehensive end-to-end solution that allowed operators and third-party maintainers to get there. Ultramain changed that with ULTRAMAIN ELB™ and ULTRAMAIN Mobile Mechanic™. Ultramain has been in the paperless business for a long time. Today, when you look at the landscape of vendor offerings, everyone is touting paperless offerings.

Aircraft IT: What have been your disappointments and what have you learned from them?

JW: We were surprised and disappointed at how long it took the industry to recognize the advantages of paperless operations. Today, due to the lack of manpower, operators and maintainers are seeking out paperless solutions as fast as they can.

Aircraft IT: In a sentence, how would you summarize what Ultramain Systems does for aircraft maintenance customers?

JW: ULTRAMAIN makes you more efficient.

Aircraft IT: What do you feel will be the next big thing in maintenance Aviation IT?

JW: We believe there is more work to be done in the areas of optimization and (transactional) automation. Maintainers are still somewhat enslaved to IT systems. Our belief is that this will be reduced over the next few years.

Aircraft IT: What do you want your customers to say about Ultramain Systems?

JW: That we understand their business, what makes them unique, and we helped them become a better competitor by using our products.

Aircraft IT: John Warren, thank you for your time.