Could a new form of production planning save the aerospace industry?

A Complicated Situation

Since the COVID-19 crisis, the aerospace industry has been heavily impacted due to the significant decrease in the number of air travelers and the closure of many airports. This has led to a sharp decline in demand for commercial aircraft and air services, which has had a negative impact on businesses in the sector.

Other problems that the aerospace industry has faced since the COVID-19 crisis include:

• The need to implement health and safety measures to protect travelers and industry workers from the transmission of the virus.

  
  

• The difficulty in maintaining supply chains due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

  
  

• The pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency in response to the decline in demand.

  
  

• Increased competition with other modes of transport, such as road and rail, which can offer safer and cheaper options for travelers.

Furthermore, the aerospace industry must face long-term challenges such as the transition to more environmentally friendly aircraft and the management of technological and regulatory changes.

Considered one of the most advanced in the world, the aerospace industry still seems to struggle to seize new potentials. One of the reasons for this delay lies in the artisanal nature of manufacturing in this sector. Airplanes are large and complex machines, and many sophisticated operations are required to produce them; often in short cycles.

Some figures

In France, according to Gifas, the turnover of the sector fell by 30% and its orders by 50% in 2020. The workforce was reduced by 8000 people, and recovery is not expected before 2023. The hour is critical. But the 4th industrial revolution could be the saving springboard.

New Opportunities

Through its paradigm shift, this revolution can save the aerospace industry. By implementing the Internet of Things, it connects all elements of the production chain and the factory itself. This allows for customized production even in large series, enabling the tracking of specifications defined by each client without having to change the entire structure of the production chain.

Driven by the automotive and consumer electronics sectors, this revolution is particularly suited to the planning needs of the aerospace industry, favored by technological discoveries such as Big Data, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

The Issues of Planning

At the market level, industrial planning in the aerospace sector is a key element to ensure growth and competitiveness. It involves taking into account various issues, such as demand management, resource management, quality management, and logistics management. It is also a way for aerospace companies to manage risks and uncertainties, as well as to anticipate needs in terms of investments and skills. Finally, industrial planning in the aerospace sector can also contribute to the implementation of sustainable development strategies and environmental protection.

At the company level, planning has the heavy responsibility of making the most efficient use of all available resources. Resources, labor, machines, time, forecasts, volumes—these are all variables as complex as they are decisive, whose potential can only be expressed through a synchronized and meticulously choreographed dance. Planning is the choreographer, and the industrial planner is the conductor, their ballet providing the company with the competitiveness on which its future depends.

To develop a competitive advantage, the company must be able to offer either a product of equal quality to its competitors at a lower price or a product of superior quality through its technical characteristics, services, or level of customization, justifying a price above that of the market. Thus, improving industrial planning processes must address two main levers: costs and quality.

Cost Control

• Mass Production, Economies of Scale

To launch a product, a company will incur various costs: product design (research, prototyping, product testing, surveys...), investments in capital goods, personnel training costs, or marketing communication expenses. These costs can then be amortized over a large production volume to avoid impacting the final selling price.

Thus, the company achieves economies of scale because increasing the quantity produced or distributed reduces the unit production cost.

• Series Production, Flexibility, and Customization

In response to mass production, new market trends have developed, oriented towards greater customization of production, even to the point of individualization.

Companies have the opportunity to develop new industrial planning processes that combine both the economies of scale benefits of a mass model while maintaining a certain flexibility to adapt to the heterogeneous demands of consumers.

The company, from the design stage, thus determines a product as a set of standard modules that will be added to the base product based on customer demand. This allows for planning each module in large volumes even while the final product will be differentiated.

• Delayed Differentiation, Efficiency

Delayed differentiation is a production technique that postpones product customization downstream in the production cycle. Its goal is to reconcile production imperatives with commercial constraints.

Product differentiation is thus only introduced at the end of the manufacturing process, making the latter easier to plan and limiting the complexity that individualization can bring.

Product Quality

The expected quality level at the end of production is determined by the company. Its control involves adherence to standards and the analysis of manufacturing processes, structured by a set of procedures. This quality level can then be certified by obtaining a label or certification.

Failure to meet quality standards is a major risk for the company, ranging from damage to brand image to jeopardizing the organization.

The American aerospace giant Boeing experienced this issue when a manufacturing defect observed in its 737 Max model grounded the airplanes for over a year, resulting in a halt to production and order cancellations. A mistake that cost them more than 20 billion dollars.

Industrial Planning: What Are Its Benefits and How to Increase Its Efficiency?

Explicit Benefits

An effective and well-thought-out production planning can drastically change the way a company monetizes its activities. Here is a list of its main benefits:

• Reduction in labor costs by eliminating time wastage and improving process flow.

  
  

• Better allocation of personnel based on their skills.

  
  

• Reduction of inventory costs by decreasing the need for safety stocks and excessive work-in-progress inventories.

  
  

• Optimization of equipment usage and increase in capacity.

  
  

• Reduction of machine downtimes due to product shortages.

  
  

• Reduction of production delays.

  
  

• Improvement in the punctuality of product and service deliveries.

  
  

Planning Optimization

There are different approaches and techniques for planning production used in the aerospace industry. Production planning in this industry is complex and must take into account numerous factors such as customer delivery times, capacity constraints, production costs, quality and safety requirements, and changes in market demand.

Planning optimization is orchestrated around three key stages:

• S&OP Planning: the company establishes a consensus between sales objectives, financial objectives, and internal execution capabilities.

• Capacity Load Management: the company adjusts its production goals and teams based on actual demand and the availability of its workforce (absences, training...).

• Scheduling: the company defines its production schedule on bottleneck stations, visualizes production in the workshop, and quickly identifies oversupplied or undersupplied stations.

To optimize their production planning, companies in the aerospace industry can use tools such as linear programming or production simulation and supply chain optimization software. These tools can help companies forecast raw material and labor needs, plan production activities, and optimize resource use to meet customer demands while adhering to the company's constraints.

In conclusion, production planning in the aerospace industry is a complex task that requires close coordination among the various stakeholders within the company and necessitates the effective adoption and use of the new tools available. These will not only optimize numerous processes but also give resources more time to dedicate to high value-added tasks, ongoing training, and the integration of new sector challenges.