Press & Analyst Coverage

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design: 2021 Forecast

February 2021

Recovery in commercial aircraft demand depends on controlling the coronavirus pandemic. Discretionary air travel drives most transport aircraft needs, and until people feel confident in traveling and governments allow it, the commercial aerospace supply chain must focus on survival.

Despite federal plans to boost COVID-19 vaccination production, President Joe Biden says it will take until late summer to treat most Americans, leaving the possibility of some resumption of air travel demand later this year. Domestic air travel will lead the way, as demonstrated in Asia-Pacific nations and in the U.S. in late 2020.

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Today’s Motor Vehicles: Feature First Engineering Tames Complexity

October 2020

Automotive engineering has never been more complex. Producing millions of vehicles per year, each one comprising thousands of parts and features, is unmatched in manufacturing.

Automotive manufacturers must also incorporate an array of next-generation features that require seamless interoperation of formerly standalone subsystems to enable more autonomous operation and higher-level user interactions. Today’s vehicles must respond to the driver’s slightest intentions while providing safety and reliability in the most extreme conditions. To meet this challenge, manufacturers are installing increasingly sophisticated software and electronics, adding complexity that increases the potential for costly defects and recalls.

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Advanced Manufacturing/SME “Automotive Yearbook”: Power In the Hands of the Portfolio Manager

September 8, 2020

Just look at the blitz of television commercials about new car models and the dizzying array of new features to satisfy all types of drivers, and you can see that product portfolio managers have their work cut out for them.

Automakers must produce millions of vehicles per year, each with thousands of parts and different capabilities, including a slew of next-generation features and advanced technologies. Given the growth of these features, along with ever-expanding options to meet different driver lifestyles, portfolio managers must select the right assortment for each consumer persona. This occurs at the beginning of the product lifecycle—the product portfolio planning phase—when they must carefully evaluate which new innovations and capabilities will be incorporated into their products. These decisions are critical to stay competitive and determine where their resources should be invested.

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Advanced Manufacturing/SME “A & D Yearbook” (pg 23): Avoiding Costly Defects

2020

Avoiding costly defects – and quickly finding and fixing those that occur – is a critical priority for all manufacturers. And it’s increasingly difficult because of mounting product complexity.This challenge is particularly acute in the aerospace and defense arena where advanced technology with highly interconnected systems, software and electrical and mechanical parts must be integrated with seamless interoperability.

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