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Aerospace and Defense manufacturers today must create better products faster – products that will last longer than ever before. And, they must do this while maintaining profitability, even though they will sell fewer replacement products. To achieve sustainability, companies must focus on four main areas.
- Enhance Collaboration inside and outside the Company
Future ecosystems will connect airlines with MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) companies, manufacturers and other service companies. Design process is no longer the linear process developed with the advent of 20th century manufacturing. Designers and engineers design the shop floor simultaneously with the product. Manufacturers are now planning and managing the full spectrum of the product’s lifecycle – from design, to manufacturing, through MRO and finally in disposal and recycling. - Increase Speed to Market for New Products
This is not unique to the aerospace and defense industry. Automakers, telecommunications and consumer products companies also struggle with finding ways to beat the competition by providing the latest products and services. The good news is that the A&D industry can borrow successes from these other industries to guide them in speeding products to market – and to achieve this with lean and flexible processes and environment. - Create and Extend Services Provided on Products
As airlines and defense entities struggle with managing budgets, they are returning to core competencies. MRO is being increasingly outsourced. It’s currently at 25 percent of MRO operations, but is expected to increase. While the manufacturers of these products should be best equipped to provide these services, independent providers are securing their share of this profitable market space. - Expand Knowledge Database and Ability to Access Retained Data
Unique to aerospace and defense manufacturing is the incredibly high percentage of workers expected to retire in the next 10 years. It is imperative to not only gather the explicit knowledge (what they know) from employees, but also the tacit knowledge (how they do the work). The next challenge is to put that information into a system that enables workers to access it.