Imagine 1 out of 3 passengers being unable to travel by air due to a shortage of aircraft. Air travel pricing will skyrocket and business cases will take huge hits. Unfortunately, this scenario is on the verge of reality. The amount of air passengers is estimated to nearly double to 7.8 billion by 2036. This means that approximately 40,000 new aircraft have to be built in the next two decades. Ask yourself: are you ready to double or even triple your current production rate in the next five years?
Don’t be ashamed if the answer is no: you are not the only one. Current production rates already leave (parts)manufacturers struggling to keep pace and cause many headaches. World’s largest aircraft OEM’s, Airbus and Boeing, have reported that the demand for their mainstream A320 and B737 models are so high, that they are oversold through the early 2020s. Production lines throughout their value chain are filled up with work for the next ten years. And meanwhile, the demand for additional aircraft keeps on rising.
It is clear: production volumes need to increase dramatically. But how to keep up? Earlier this year, delays have contributed to a production hold-up at both Boeing and Airbus. Boeing had to park around 40 aircraft in storage, while Airbus was dealing with about 100 aircraft to be parked temporary at their facilities, mainly due to issues with engine suppliers. But their challenge translates to the entire value chain: there are simply not enough engineers and running systems and solutions are already too stressed.
Commercial aircraft market: Why manufacturers can no longer postpone to automate their production lines
Key driver for change
To drive quick wins, (parts)manufacturers have been focusing on short term solutions over the past years: hiring additional workers, cutting cost, outsourcing production to low-cost countries or making small investments to upgrade current equipment. But optimising existing production lines has its limits and many companies are reaching the end, having fully ‘squeezed out’ the capacity of their current set-up. Not to mention the impossibility to hire more labour or slicing down costs.
In order to meet the OEM’s ramp-up demands for the next couple of years and to build a solid future-proof business, aircraft and part manufacturers must look into new and innovative ways to prepare their production lines for the long term. If not, newcomers will come in and take over. Heck, they already are. The link showcases a wonderful example of a greenfield situation where the composite manufacturing line is fully automated from start to end. Even AGV’s are being used to transport the parts through the factory from one station to another. You’ll see hardly people walking through the plant.
How to get started
The sense of urgency that manufacturers must look at ways to take their production optimisation to the next level, is hopefully crystal-clear. How you choose to go about, is up to you. To help you make the right decisions for your business, we drew up a Point of View to get you started.
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