Transformative Roles of Global Engineering Partners in the A&D Supply Chain – A look into the aircraft certification process

Transformative Roles of Global Engineering Partners in the A&D Supply Chain – A look into the aircraft certification process

The main objective of this paper is to highlight the role of Global Engineering Partners (GEPs) in the globalized Aerospace & Defense (A&D) supply chain with an emphasis on the certification process. The complexities involved in aircraft ertification due to transforming roles of the stakeholders are highlighted. The paper presents a detailed approach for airworthiness and type certification for a developmental aircraft, various standards that are applicable and types of certification. A case study based approach is followed to demonstrate how the capabilities of GEPs could be leveraged by the A&D industry to address design for quality and the support for certification in various aircraft related areas. The paper clearly articulates the challenges faced by the A&D industry and explains how GEPs can positively impact the A&D value chain by reducing lead time, cost and risk to create sustainable supply chain surplus. The paper concludes that global networks encompassing the A&D players and the right GEPs would be a key success factor for the A&D industry in the future as these GEPs give the A&D industry access to global talent pool to foster innovation in the supply chain

Keywords:

Certification, Global Engineering Partner (GEP), Aerospace & Defense (A&D), Compliance, Supply Chain

Introduction

The OEMs of the A&D industry are evolving into a new role of super-integrators. These emerging super-integrators are driving outsourcing of development and manufacturing to strategic partners and suppliers worldwide to meet the challenging business imperatives in terms of cost, time, risk and innovation. Industry consolidation and compressed time-to-market are driving the A&D industry. This is forcing the A&D companies to increase productivity and efficiency at all stages of the product lifecycle. The mission criticality characteristic associated with the aerospace and defense products places towering importance on the Certification process in the product life cycle.

The paper highlights globalized scenario of the A&D industry and explains the aircraft Certification process in such a scenario. Also, this paper explains the philosophy of type Certification for a developmental aircraft, different types of Certifications and applicable Certification standards. Further it deals with the role of Global Engineering Partners (GEPs) in the Certification process in the globalized scenario with the aid of a few cases. The cases are used to explain how GEPs could significantly contribute to the fulfillment of the business objectives of the A&D companies.

Globalized scenario and its implications on the Certification process

The global Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry is undergoing major transformations (Refer Fig 1). The big push over in the past few years is to drive suppliers to add more value in terms of System Engineering, Integration, Testing & Certification, while the OEMs assemble larger Sub- Assemblies together. The OEM’s focus is on core competencies, i.e, Final Integration, Technology Advancements, Testing & overall Certification, while suppliers work either as System Design and Manufacturing specialists. The result is, Sixty to eighty percent of production costs, risk and lead times reside across the supply chain. Boeing’s 787 program supply chain being a case in point. The entire wing of 787 is outsourced to Japan . Most A&D OEMs are driving value to the supply base; there has been an increased emphasis on supplier partnership programs. These partnerships have caused OEMs to invest in supplier development teams. They work with the suppliers on their design & production systems to facilitate design & Certification activities and develop production capacities to meet demand, cost targets and the regulatory compliance. Lean and Six Sigma are the leading tool sets preferred by the A&D OEMs. Embraer’s initiatives in these lines are notable. The number of suppliers involved in ERJ 170/190, in comparison to the ERJ-145, was reduced from 400 to 40; 16 of them being risk sharing partners . The decrease was a strategic decision to better manage them, minimize costs and improve product quality through collaboration with the best companies in the sector.

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