Undoubtably, the aerospace industry has faced incredible challenges, especially over the past 12 months. Nevertheless, the industry has time and again proven its resilience as the pace of innovation continues. Each segment within the industry has specific drivers and challenges, based on its market attractiveness and velocity, as well as product development and innovation cycles. Looking back at 2020, the commercial aerospace sector has clearly been severely hit by the global pandemic—especially due to unprecedented global travel restrictions being imposed on passengers.
In this article, we explore the 2021 outlook for aerospace manufacturers as they continuously evaluate the technology landscape as the key to remaining competitive. This includes embracing extended remote collaboration requirements, adopting digital enterprise and associated transformation strategies to do more with less. Many have embraced model-based systems engineering (MBSE) and agile development, as aerospace manufacturers strive to increase productivity and improve program management through digital transformation.
In recent years, aerospace manufacturers have been investing in new product concepts, from electric VTOL air taxis to drones, hybrid-electric airliners and supersonic jets. This includes next generation aircraft and systems developed by defense contractors—supporting government driven strategies for modernization. These programs brought forward new approaches to product innovation, including:
- Leveraging new technologies and electrification
- Building new product concepts faster and cheaper
- Boosting innovation while mitigating risks
- Adopting more agile product development framework
Looking Back at 2020: Impact of the Pandemic on the Aerospace Industry
The aerospace industry was directly impacted by the 2008-2009 financial crisis, like many other industrial sectors—though airlines continued to fly during that time. This contrasts with the COVID-19 pandemic, as this time airlines significantly reduced their operations and even stopped flying for periods of time. Such a reduction of activities directly impacted the entire supply base and the MRO business in the commercial sector. The defense sector saw less of an impact with continuing operations, often remotely, and sometimes reduced investments.
Discussing with Dale Tutt, VP of Aerospace and Defense with Siemens Digital Industries Software, it was interesting to note that “companies with good digital strategies in place were able to adapt and minimize the disruption” in these trying times. Tutt highlighted the ability to learn and adapt as a critical factor to continuous innovation and survival in this environment.
This was clearly illustrated with multiple ventilator projects initiated by companies during the early months of the pandemic. Aerospace manufacturers that engaged in such projects with no prior engineering expertise in respiratory ventilators included Airbus, BAE Systems, Denel, GKN Aerospace, Marshall, Meggitt, Nasa, Rolls-Royce, Thales and many more leading organizations around the world. These companies designed, engineered, sourced and manufactured new devices in a matter of weeks, within a very regulated healthcare industry. Such initiatives clearly illustrate the ability to ‘think out of the box’ and to have the ‘learning process’ rapidly put into practice.
From Workflow Automation to Digital Twins and Process Digitalization
Being able to innovate while remaining lean and agile during execution is essential to creating sustainable value. As Tutt put it, such an innovative mindset includes leveraging “digital twins, from product to factory models and simulations” in order to:
- Re-use and adapt existing systems and processes to protect worker safety.
- Change the way organizations manage people, leveraging remote collaboration with extended transparency.
- Bolstering digital connectivity with the supply chain, directly embedding the supplier’s digital twins.
- Performing risk and migration assessment throughout the value chain.
As remote working becomes the new norm, a new mindset is emerging. There were many activities which were thought to be only possible face-to-face, such as supplier factory inspection, which can now be performed through video calls. Digital twins are not just about 3D models; they include all types of technical documentation and their associated delivery processes.
Outlook for 2021 and Beyond: Accelerated Digitalization, New Mindset
Living in a post-COVID world is yet to be fully appreciated, though it is expected that a number of changes and existing implications are here to stay and expected to expand in the long-term:
- Digital Transformation: The link between business process and digitalization is indissociable; enterprise platforms and embedded technologies are not to be opposed in the quest for competitive advantage. Equally, IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) are integral to business strategies, not only as supportive functions but as driving elements of the value chain.
- Change Mindset: Digital adoption is mandatory, but not sufficient as successful deployment and transition also requires a new mindset. This includes, for instance, modifying processes to adopt digital solutions, adopting new workflows, changes in management style and workplace environments—but also leaner, more agile supply chains.
- Productivity and Agility: As the pace of innovation increases, companies that embrace digital transformation to tame complexity will thrive by implementing new working practices and tools to foster sharing data, capitalizing and retaining knowledge and leveraging process automations and new digital formats to be more agile and productive.
- MBSE and Model-Based Enterprise: Going beyond 3D models to extend across the entire enterprise and accelerate product development, drive technical scope and complete certification, and then enabling a seamless transition into manufacturing and sustainment.
Model-Based Systems Engineering to Manage Complexity
A key question in the aerospace industry includes how is MBSE becoming more and more relevant in both today’s and tomorrow’s post-pandemic world. Systems engineering is not a new subject; the industry has now reached a significant level of maturity in this field—especially with major industrial leaders and regulatory agencies steering the aerospace industry towards robust data traceability and process integration over the past two decades.
Dale Tutt describes systems engineers as the “Program Manager’s best friend” in providing the framework to:
- Link requirements to system architecture per the wider definition of product system: a set of things working together, including principles or procedures according to which something is done, not just the IT definition.
- Link analysis and decisions, and the people making decisions and associated governance.
- Manage complexity (not remove it).
- Increase product integration across more cross-disciplines, with more software and many more interface components.
- Reduce and manage delivery risks.
- Increase data re-use and effective carry-over data utilization, including across commercial and military components; ultimately, aiming at product modularity to save time and cost.
As products become more complex, data management complexity has increased multi-fold over the years, said Dale Tutt, “rising from 1002 to 20,0002 integration points” across like-for-like systems. Clearly such complexity cannot be managed through Excel or other disconnected tools and processes.
MBSE is the discipline to join the dots across vertical and horizontal organizational integration, expanding product lifecycle management beyond engineering and manufacturing into the wider enterprise.
Towards Agile Product Innovation and Maintenance
Greater enterprise integration and oversight has often been a synonym of rigidity and bureaucratic procedures, especially in the aerospace industry where standards drive long-lead certification programs. This is an industry where safety is King, while change management for maintenance, repair and overhaul is Queen.
MBSE links to agility and the ability to serve better maintenance, bringing back production and service-driven changes into the design of the product. Digital continuity across PLM, ERP, MES and other disciplines and platforms is essential to update maintenance procedures, drive operation changes, reduce failing rates and operational costs.
Dale Tutt insisted on the importance of having the “right digital tools and associated platforms to create true value from product modularity and process automation”. According to Tutt, such agility is a direct by-product of the operating platform openness and how it contributes to improved maintenance and sustainment:
- Increase data security when sharing components across product lines.
- Reduce cost of data maintenance with traceability throughout.
- Continuously and seamlessly support products into the field, including software components and hardware integration.
- Manage obsolescence.
Ongoing aircraft platformization allows for modular product agility, including apps to interface with single to multiple components, foster more flexible and rapid innovation—leveraging digital twins for virtual verification and product data integration. The value is expanding multi-fold when it comes to using digital twins in the field for predictive maintenance. Data alone is just not enough. As Dale Tutt put it, “digitalization is the new oil and driving amazing innovation in our products. Airplanes are perhaps becoming flying iPhones—just don’t tell the pilot!”
What are your thoughts?
To learn more, visit Siemens Digital Industries Software.