Product Realization Facilitates A Collaborative Approach .

Siemens Digital Industries SoftwareProduct realizationfacilitates a collaborativeapproachDriving profitability, reputation and moresuccessful execution of aerospace anddefense programsExecutive summaryAerospace and defense companies are being confronted by the twin challenges of unprecedented competitive pressure as well as understandablydemanding customers who are seeking greater accountability on programperformance. To compete successfully, aerospace companies need torethink their program execution strategies. To gain greater clarity on program decisions and their impact on cost, timing and quality, they mustmake manufacturing a core part of the program development process.siemens.com/software

White paper Product realization facilitates a collaborative approachIntroductionIn the aerospace and defense industry, programs arebecoming more complex, bids are more challenging andcustomer priorities are changing. The need for newertechnologies, such as composites for more fuel-efficientaircraft, will continue to grow. Aerospace companiesalso have to manage regulatory requirements to makesure design and manufacturing practices are documented and traceable. The need for greater programperformance has never been so critical for aerospaceand defense companies. To win business in today’shighly competitive environment, aerospace companiesmust submit attractive bids that also include the demonstrated ability to deliver on program targets, requirements and production schedules. This is not an easytask and requires reinventing the way programs aremanaged from initial concept all the way throughdelivery.Siemens Digital Industries SoftwareAerospace and defense companies are trying to find amore efficient way to enhance collaboration betweendesign and manufacturing. The industry needs a processdriven product lifecycle management (PLM) approach toinclude manufacturing engineering in every aspect ofprogram development. This can drive profitability, reputation and prove the firm’s ability to drive successfulprogram execution.Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Product Realizationsolution for the aerospace and defense industry providesa process-driven approach to shift product and manufacturing decisions to early in the lifecycle so you can validate the manufacturing feasibility of aircraft systemsduring the design stage.2

White paper Product realization facilitates a collaborative approachThe changing global aerospaceand defense industryProgram complexitiesIncreasing program complexity is one of the reasonsmost aerospace companies suffer delays and financiallosses during the execution of major programs. Theissues arise because aerospace systems are becomingmore sophisticated and challenging. Large programs aremanaged on a global scale with original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers finding it difficultto efficiently manage systems integration. Poor program management, shortages of skilled labor and lackof understanding of requirements are some of the keycontributing factors that lead to program failures. Also,aerospace customers are demanding greater innovationand fuel efficiency in products. With increasing regulation in greenhouse gas emissions, the need for lightermaterials and advanced propulsion techniques willcontinue to grow in the near future. All these issuesdrive product and program complexities and, therefore,new approaches to program execution strategies arenecessary to win in the current aerospace industryenvironment.Poor program performanceThe aerospace and defense industry is under a tremendous amount of change. A majority of those programsacross the industry are either over budget, late or both.Poor program performance will weigh heavily as newopportunities may be penalized based on past performance. There are a greater number of competitors bothforeign and domestic competing for a fewer number ofSiemens Digital Industries Softwareprograms. This makes winning or losing the next program even more important. Nowadays, aerospacedefense contractors are required to demonstrate costand risk mitigation abilities to win business. The advantage will also go to those who are nimble and opportunistic in recognizing changing defense priorities andpursuing the resultant opportunities. All these require afundamental change in terms of pursuing programs andmanufacturing strategies to operate profitably at lowerproduction rates. All elements of program cost, such asdirect labor, material and overhead, should be accurately predicted and managed to demonstrate programaffordability to government customers.Increasing global competitionThe global commercial aerospace sector is the keygrowth sector, and is driven by increased productiondemand at the platform level as well as for retrofitcomponents. Increasing passenger travel demand andthe replacement cycle of older generation aircraft willcontribute to the biggest growth in the aerospaceindustry. However, competition is intense with theentry of new, lower cost and more responsive providers,including the migration of companies from defense tocommercial markets. To win bids and deliver successfulprograms requires aerospace companies to maximizeresource utilization, aggressively pursue program bidsand make sound investment decisions in design andmanufacturing capabilities.3

White paper Product realization facilitates a collaborative approachStrategies for profitable growthThe implications of a changing customer base andprogram performance requirements will impact aerospace and defense industry practices in the upcomingyears. Aerospace companies must revisit their strategicimperatives to stay competitive and capture value.Cost containmentThe pressure on established providers to become dramatically more efficient at reducing costs while increasing production flexibility will be unrelenting. These costand flexibility needs include not only capabilities formanaging more build variations in production, but alsothe need to evaluate and adopt alternative or newmaterials and manufacturing processes to reduce costs.Today traditional cost management approaches are notenough, and in an era of growing demand for moreinnovation in the industry, just slashing the operationalcost is not a recipe for success. Good investment decisions should capture efficiencies from existingresources. This requires aerospace companies to perform a strategic evaluation of their cost structure. Theidea is to reduce cost drivers by proper program planning. Poor program management and late stage costbuildup are the most significant contributors to inefficiencies. Such cost drivers are completely avoidable.Aggressive program pursuitTo win business in today’s environment, contractorsneed to submit more attractive bids. Aerospace customers need to know that the program can be executedwithin budget, timing and performance requirements.This forces the industry to reinvent the way programproposals are pursued and bids are submitted. Winningbids are typically the ones that can prove that manufacturing capabilities exist to build the product as per thespecifications. Conversely, aerospace companies mustevaluate the program viability during the bid processand pursue only those that are profitable.Siemens Digital Industries SoftwareIn addition, the established reputation of programperformance is, and will continue to be, an essentialrequirement for a company to win new contracts. Astrategic approach to pursuing programs with earlyanalysis of manufacturing viability is critical for makingthe right investment decisions and winning larger andmore profitable contracts.Risk sharing with suppliersIn the aerospace industry, transfer of subsystem andcomponent development to suppliers is growing.Considering the growing number of smaller contracts,this is a critical risk mitigation strategy adopted by mostaerospace OEMs. Reliance on supplied parts helps tominimize capital investments, better manage inventorylevels as well as share research and development (R&D)costs. On the other hand, complexities in aerospacesystems present unique supplier integration challengesduring product development. Successful supplier collaboration requires product data and manufacturinginformation, such as 3D design data, quality parametersand any tooling information, to be seamlessly shared.The need to accurately trace part numbers and bill-ofmaterials (BOMs) for compliance and regulatoryrequirements brings additional challenges. Therefore,using integrated processes to enable co-development ofcomponents between OEMs and suppliers can significantly improve program profitability for all parties.4

White paper Product realization facilitates a collaborative approachKey enablers for drivingprogram execution excellenceIn order to contain cost, pursue bids more successfullyand drive program execution excellence, aerospace anddefense companies must embrace a more efficient wayto enable collaboration between design and manufacturing. The need to fully understand the manufacturingimplications of multiple design alternatives is animportant element of program success. Enabling earlyinvolvement of manufacturing engineering in theassessment of design alternatives, accurate planning foron-time project launch and effective communicationwith the shop floor are all examples of opportunities forcompanies to shift left the integration of the manufacturing definition in the product development process.With the shift-left strategy, the program team can makemanufacturing decisions concurrently with the evolvingaircraft design. Design and manufacturing gain earlyaccess to prerelease data so critical decisions are madein a collaborative manner. It is more efficient and costeffective when design and manufacturing engineers aregiven the opportunity to optimize program performancebefore investment decisions are locked in. The chartbelow shows that early in the lifecycle we have moreflexibility to change designs with less cost impact. Aswe move forward in the program lifecycle, it becomescost prohibitive to change decisions.Manufacturingplanning activitiesilitAbytochangeCost of changeI n v e s t menConceptDesignProgram teams that consider manufacturing early onare more likely to take advantage of new materials andtechnologies such as composites, additive manufacturing, near-net shape forming and complex parts machining. However, aerospace companies still struggle to finda solution that is capable of providing a single collaborative platform for conducting design, manufacturingplanning and production activities. Typically, design andmanufacturing applications are separate tools representing data in different constructs and, therefore,real-time collaboration is never achieved. Aerospacecompanies try to connect the disparate systems with adhoc integration modules, but that has been an inefficient approach.Therefore, the question is how can next-generation PLMsolutions for aerospace and defense help programteams collaborate more effectively during the productrealization process?Engineering releaseShift leftThe opportunity to optimize the product design notonly for performance but also for manufacturingrequirements can help the program team better controlunit costs, production rates and facilities planning forboth the aerospace company and its suppliers. Thisconsideration, or shift-left strategy, helps to reduce thenumber of program changes and ensures a smoothtransition from development to production.tPlanValidateBuildLaunchFigure 1: Shift left program decisions are a critical initiative for aerospacecompanies.Siemens Digital Industries Software5