JULY 20218 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSIN MY OPINIONFuture of Manufacturing in the Aerospace and Defense MarketBy Bill Flood, V.P. of Engineering, Technology and New Business Ventures, Moog Aircraft Group [NYSE:MOG.A]Bill FloodIn the Aerospace and Defense product market, true mass production is a rare thing to encounter. It does exist in some limited areas such as munitions and commercial products also utilized in the Aerospace and Defense space such as fasteners, connectors, or other standard components. However, growing cost pressures and a global economy that demands ever- increasing customization are currently causing the entire Aerospace and Defense industry to look at how products are manufactured and assembled. It is not enough to simply look at technological solutions to limit variation or eliminate handwork. There are a few immutable facts about aircraft production. First and foremost is global aircraft quantity, there were around 25,000 to 26,000 commercial aircraft operating pre-Covid-19. This translates to about 1000-1500 total aircraft produced by major OEM per year; compare this to the global number of automobiles (many millions) or the yearly production quantity of a single one of the world's large automobile manufacturers, and the situation is evident that aircraft demand is a few orders of magnitude less than automotive so mass production economics have to be carefully analyzed to find appropriate solutions. Immutable fact number two, not as many subsystems, can be utilized on each different aircraft model as some people think. For example, each airplane model is different and requires concrete equipment to fly safely and perform appropriately. Specifically, no one would suggest mounting an aileron actuator sized for a small subsonic airplane to an aileron for a wide-body passenger aircraft flying trans-sonic velocities; the physics don't work. While all aircraft have a lot in common, from the example above, not all subsystems, assemblies, or components are appropriate for every aircraft design. This
< Page 7 | Page 9 >