Boeing Company Undifferentiated or Other Model
Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Equipment / Tooling
New aircraft [from delivery from Boeing]. Located at our maintenance facility. During pre-delivery modifications of aircraft after delivery from Boeing aircraft company. During these modifications; maintenance personnel are advised to remove and destroy as per safety regulations; the 11 on-board PPE or PBE's (Personnel Breathing Equipment) that came with the aircraft from Boeing; to be replaced with a different style that our company installs during the pre-delivery of the aircraft. During this destruction of the PBE the maintenance personnel are told to open and then activate the PBE's before disposing of them locally. While trying to open the sealed vacuum packing wrap around the PBE; nine (9) times the handle ripped off without opening the sealed vacuum packaging wrap. Only two (2) times did the handle open the PBE sealed package properly. Maintenance personnel had to use pocket knives to open the other nine sealed containers that did not open.
A Maintenance Technician reported factory installed PBEs were removed per company instructions; activated; and then disposed. Nine of the eleven PBE packages that failed during attempted opening were then opened with pocket knives.