Propelling Airbus into the digital future
Author : By David Ziegler, Vice President, A&D Industry, Dassault Systèmes
26 September 2019
Across the aerospace industry, rising customer expectations on sustainability and growing program intricacies make it more challenging for companies to establish themselves as long term leaders in the field. As aerospace systems become increasingly complex to design and build, there is a new imperative to change the way we conceptualise, design, and manufacture air and space vehicles.
In this new era of Industrial Renaissance, companies need to consider unifying the physical and digital worlds for a greater chance to operate cutting edge designs that will work in the real world and be able to be manufactured at scale.
Nothing demonstrates the connection between technology, science and art better than aviation. When we think on how the industry has evolved to where it is today, it is an incorporation of technical prowess, manufacturing skills and of course, inspiration. What is new today is that digitalisation enable start-ups to grow at an extensive speed to outperform long-established business models. Aerospace executives know digitalisation will continue to have a huge impact on their sector and embracing new technology is key for successful business transformation.
Creating a new product or redesigning an existing one is typically a long process. With multiple factors involved including prototype testing and several complex manufacturing processes, designing new aircraft features can take several years or even decades.
Take a look at Airbus for example. The European Aerospace giant has clearly embraced the need to deliver digital continuity from design to operations. They have launched a full enterprise wide transformation called DDMS (Digital Design Manufacturing and Services) with the 3DEXPERIENCE as its key backbone.
One precursor to this transformation program was a joint project at our 3DEXPERIENCE Innovation Centre in Wichita. One key area Airbus wanted to start working on was simplifying an engine thrust reverser, which slows an aircraft down upon landing. Normally, such a project would take 18-24 months to complete. However, on this occasion, we jointly set a 90-day deadline for the team to deliver on the concept. Given the time constraints, the engineers had to reconsider their manufacturing strategies and bring collaboration to the forefront of their innovation strategy.
Working with the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University, which is home to Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Centre, Airbus was able to work simultaneously with multiple suppliers to meet the project deadline. Using the project dashboard of the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform as well as the Aerospace and Defence Industry Solution Experiences, the program went from conception to full-scale functioning prototype in just 84 days. The implementation of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform simplified and streamlined key processes whilst also maintaining, if not improving, the quality of the products produced during the project.
Why the 3DEXPERIENCE platform?
At Dassault Systèmes, our platform and solutions enable customers to collaborate and innovate across their enterprise and supply chains, communicating in real-time without language barriers. This agility represents the future of aerospace, whether you’re a start-up who’s bootstrapping until that first seed investment, or a multinational with tens of thousands of staff and a R&D budget of billions of dollars to play with. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to help improve final result in the real world.
As the Industry Renaissance takes full shape, technologies like 3D printing, or disciplines like Model Based Systems Engineering will continue to be widely adopted and industrialised. 3D printing today enables engineers to massively save weight in Aircraft programs – a key parameter in the efficiency of a design. With challenges such as powder recycling, automated tumbler algorithms to support full scale production, certification of standard aerospace powder material and so forth there is more work to be done. In the future technologies like these will become more widely used as we solve these barriers to full scale production.
Increased demand means that companies will need to develop more agile systems as production cycles shorten through the use of technology. This will inevitably impact the business models of manufacturers and force change, to meet these evolving demands. Above all, companies need to be able to sustain the demand and with incumbent traditional modes of production and delivery, this won’t be possible.
Technologies like the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will revolutionise the ways in which the aerospace and defence sector operates, from manufacturing processes to the real-time operations of aircraft. The industry must continue to quickly embrace and adopt new technologies, in order to keep up with the rate of industry progression. Airbus adoption of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform means that it has accelerated its digital transformation processes and taken a major step forward in laying new foundations for the aviation ecosystem. This is valid not only for Airbus, but also for the worldwide ecosystem that supports Airbus in its endeavour to manufacture the best aircraft in the world. Ultimately, those that fail to follow suit with similar transformations will struggle to keep pace, both with competitors and customers’ expectations.
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