A guide to successful collaboration in the aerospace industry

Citation

Johnson, T. (2003), "A guide to successful collaboration in the aerospace industry", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 75 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2003.12775baf.003

A guide to successful collaboration in the aerospace industry

A guide to successful collaboration in the aerospace industry

Keywords: Aerospace industry, Collaboration, Management

With intricate, highly engineered products and mammoth development programmes that sometimes last for decades, the aerospace and defence industry is characterised by unusually high levels of complexity. Nevertheless, it is subject to many of the same pressures as other sectors of discrete manufacturing. As operating margins are squeezed, companies need to maintain their profitability. To ensure continued competitiveness, they must reduce programme costs and cut product cycle times.

At the same time, the events of 11th September and their aftermath have caused major upheavals in the industry. There is a climate of fear and concern over national security and defence, not only in US but also worldwide. Funding is increasing in some areas and decreasing in others, with many commercial airlines struggling whilst demand for certain types of military equipment grows. In these conditions the ability to respond promptly to change and turn orders around quickly is at a premium. It is imperative that manufacturers reduce procurement and production cycle times if they are to take advantage of new opportunities.

More generally, the industry trend towards larger joint programmes and platforms means that supply chains are becoming longer and more intricate. Increasingly, the manufacture of complex aerospace products involves extended concept development and design teams. These teams cross enterprise boundaries and are often globally dispersed. The number of people involved in other processes such as procurement and programme management is also increasing.

For all these reasons, it is clear that the ability to develop, manage and sustain collaborative relationships with customers, partners and suppliers is critical for success. In the old days, no aerospace company would have entertained the possibility of collaborating with its competitors. In today's market, every company is thinking along these lines. Thus Lockheed Martin and Boeing are collaborating on the Joint Strike Fighter programme. The Eurofighter programme involves no fewer than five countries and some 20 different manufacturers.

Collaborative solutions

Many aerospace companies have a strong need for a powerful collaborative framework that will enable them to work with their partners to design, build, ship, install and maintain products. This need is particularly urgent at the moment because many companies have cut down drastically on travel in the wake of the terrorist atrocities. Opportunities for face-to-face interaction are therefore reduced and alternatives need to be found.

By enabling more flexible response to change, by synchronising activities across the supply chain, and by coordinating complex administrative processes, collaborative solutions make processes better, faster and cheaper. They cut time-to-market and at the same time promote the development of more creative and more innovative products. The basic function of a collaborative solution is to enable the rapid sharing of important information to a large user base within and outside the enterprise. Security is of course a vital consideration, particularly in this industry area and at this point in time. No collaborative solution can hope to gain acceptance in the marketplace unless it offers a very high level of security.

Effective support for collaboration means providing secure role-based access to EDP, PDM and other structured data, both inside and outside the corporate firewall, in accordance with the needs of the business process. The ability to manage processes across multiple applications and workflows is essential, with PDM, ERP and other design and procurement systems being integrated into a consistent, flexible and user-friendly collaborative environment. Virtual workspaces are a feature of such an environment when used for inter-company projects. From the user perspective, the ability to integrate seamlessly with popular desktop applications is also a distinct advantage. Other capabilities are likely to include document routing and vaulting, view and mark-up, knowledge capture and scheduling.

As far as the underlying technology is concerned, the internet represents the only practical option for collaboration. A web-enabled solution provides fast, easy access to data within a familiar environment. Despite past concerns about security, collaborative solutions currently on the market provide secure, encrypted access to the internet through a simple browser interface. Thick-client applications, on the other hand, are not suitable for deployment to large number of people because software needs to be installed on every clients device. This consumes a great deal of time and money.

Collaborative solutions bring greatest benefits to aerospace companies when they are used to integrate people, disciplines and companies in one or more of three critical areas.

• •

  Product concept and design.

• •

  Quote management.

• •

  Programme management and execution.

Product concept and design

Timely, cost-effective product development is essential for success in the aerospace market. Companies rely increasingly on external resources to accelerate and improve the quality of the product development process. Only by implementing collaborative solutions, they can make best use of these resources and fully leverage the expertise of their development partners. These solutions provide a central repository for project knowledge and document control as well as a collaborative engineering platform. Rather than sending documents all over the globe by courier, partners have simultaneous internet-based access to one central, consistent version of the product model. There is visibility into the entire product development process, from concept through design to execution.

Collaborative solutions often improve the efficiency and effectiveness of in-house functions as well as support external collaboration. The best solutions also ensure easy integration and quick deployment into the company's existing infrastructure.

Proposal management

A collaborative proposal management environment can bring enormous efficiency gains to the bidding and sourcing process. It introduces the ability to be more responsive and to reduce the duration of the quoting cycle, thus producing bids more quickly and increasing the chances of winning new business. At the same time, it virtually eliminates the travel and direct mail costs usually associated with supplier communication. Information about suppliers, parts and components can be captured, stored and managed securely in a central database for easy access, with the potential to disseminate selected data to preferred suppliers. The information held can include the manufacturer's record of previous experience with its partners, expressed in terms of metrics such as error rates and timeliness. The bid response process itself can be tracked over the internet.

Programme management and execution

In the complex aerospace manufacturing environment, any program management methodology generates a tangled web of interrelationships. As cycle times accelerate, it becomes increasingly difficult to carry out design reviews, real-time project tracking, cost analysis and overall management in an orderly manner. It is also important to remember that the purpose of a development project is not simply to create a new product but also to build a complete inventory of knowledge for those who manufacture, supply and market the product. The capture of knowledge is especially important in the context of decision-making, not only for the task in hand but also for future development projects.

A collaborative programme management solution such as NexPrise can provide much-needed support in all these areas. By promoting greater information visibility and knowledge capture, it enables programme managers to make more informed decisions. Functionality is available for project schedule management, approval process management and cost management across the extended enterprise. Electronic signatures, intelligent routing, tracking of action items and defined processes for issue resolution all contribute to more effective, collaborative management.

Real-life benefits

The benefits of collaborative solutions are best illustrated using real-life examples. Bell Helicopters, for instance, needed a more effective way of managing large numbers of proposals for the production of helicopters. Traditionally, this had been a complex and time-consuming task. However, NexPrise was able to provide the company with a secure web-based solution that enabled it to easily manage the multistage process of creating proposals across a diverse supplier base. A user-friendly collaborative environment was created, providing easy but secure access for both internal users and external partners. As a result, Bell Helicopters streamlined its processes and made substantial time savings. It also cut down substantially on the costs of travelling and sending data securely to other companies.

Another good example is that of Lockheed Martin Missiles Fire and Control, which was looking to design and produce its launch systems more efficiently. To achieve this, it was necessary to coordinate a supply chain consisting of 75 suppliers and customers. Using collaborative product design and quote management solutions from NexPrise, Lockheed Martin was able to bring its products to market more quickly and at lower cost. Specific benefits included a 10 percent reduction in procurement costs, a 25 percent reduction in procurement cycle time, a 50 percent reduction in change cycle time, and a 40 percent reduction in supplier selection time. Over the duration of the project, the company estimated that it saved $65 million.

Mandatory technology

Of course, successful collaboration means more than just implementing the right technology. A plan is required in order to identify the key partners, agree on the most appropriate approach to collaboration, and allocate responsibility for different tasks. Cultural issues are involved as well. Collaboration involves a complete change in the way a company does business, and people need to be prepared for this.

Collaborative technology is now poised to make the transition from "nice to have" to "must have". A sound collaborative infrastructure is increasingly being seen as one of the cornerstones of a competitive, cost-effective, responsive operation. As such, it will become mandatory for aerospace companies everywhere.

Terry Johnson is at NexPrise, a leading provider of collaborative solutions for the aerospace industry.

Terry Johnson European Director of NexPrise