The Changing Aviation Market: Adapting To Future Manufacturing Processes and Conditions Through Digitalization

May 31, 2023

Change Is Here And Now

The world has undergone a massive shift in the last 4 years at the hands of the COVID pandemic. Globally speaking, these changes will be, for the better part, long lasting, or possibly permanent. Few have escaped the ramifications of the world emerging into a new class of normalcy, and air travel has been one of the hardest hit verticals to date. 

Crushed beneath an extended period of highly limited revenues and regulatory obligations, organizations still face the daunting task of re-filling their ranks to meet the rising demand of air travel’s triumphant return to pre-COVID numbers. The fact that safety invigilation and parts scarcity have decided to coexist has not helped matters either, levying added pressure for airlines, MROs and OEMs to deliver products on time, and in adherence to regulatory airworthiness standards. 

Forecasts show more changes aligning to further affect the aviation market.Yet these changes come on the heels of new technical processes which address the current dilemmas. Managing and implementing these changes will be a mandatory requirement for survival and growth. Information usage will be a key factor in navigating towards successful and profitable solutions. The digitalization of technical content will be a critical element in assimilating new procedures and recapturing stable revenues

Adopting New Manufacturing Methods

adopted and integrated by all stakeholders in the value chain.  Delivering better products to the market at the apex of the aviation ecosystem, OEMs  have shown advances in manufacturing processes which address fuel efficiency. Due to the industry wide pact made to adopt SAF (Sustainable Air Fuel) and reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2035, steps have been taken to modify aircrafts structurally and on a component level. According to an Envirotec report , winglets will soon be a standard structural feature on all aircraft, reducing drag and conversely fuel consumption, by up to 2 million liters per year

Engine technology, specifically combustors, have likewise seen enhancements from companies such as Roll Royce. New designs are reported to offer higher fuel efficiencies, anywhere from 29%-69%, making them an invaluable piece of technology to implement.

These new advances in aviation manufacturing are solutions to a host of the pressing issues facing OEMs today. Sharing the information with partners in the supply chain and clients downstream facilitates the adoption and streamlining of new processes and technologies providing performant solutions. Through the digitalization and distribution of technical content via an IETP, such as the NIVOMAX Viewer, companies will be able to access and utilize new knowledge, building better, more efficient aircraft.Cutting edge technology, parsed from end to end in regard to new handling specifications, safety, maintenance, and more, can easily be an also synchronize with compliance to sustainability commitments. 

The New Materials Revolution- How Its Made

Finished structures and components are not the sole region where advancements need to be understood and adopted. New materials are one of the solutions at the forefront of combating supply chain scarcity and reducing maintenance costs and aircraft turnaround. In a recent article by MSC , light was shed on the benefits afforded by 4 new materials, heat resistant alloys, composite materials, nanoparticles, and graphene. Each of these bring advantages to the table, ranging from higher heat resistance, electrical shielding and conductivity, tensile strength, and weight reduction.

Aviation can benefit from the implementation of these new material processes. Weight reduction renders better fuel efficiency, strength and heat resistance reduces maintenance, and conductivity factors help protect sensitive avionics. Each new material has data applying to its own specifications and qualities, which, if the digitalization of this information is implemented throughout a shared and unified value chain, could provide massive returns to companies willing to utilize them. 

Both OEMs and MROs would benefit from adopting newer, resilient products. As they are newly introduced elements to the industry, collaboration between companies, sharing new experiences and discoveries, would help to stabilize and standardize new material usages.Through digitalization, this kind of collaboration becomes much simpler and far more efficient, providing access to the information required regarding new processes benefiting the vertical as a whole. 

Wise aviation companies will realize the faster they get a handle on new technology, materials and processes, the better everyone will fare. While government subsidies granted to alleviate the pressure of COVID 19 are exhausted, the global fleet continues to grow from 28,000 in 2022, to 38,000 by 2032. State and Federal governments are offering substantial tax credits to those companies pioneering new processes, products, and informational technologies. In short, by delving into new materials and processes, while implementing digitalization of technical content and information, such as with The NIVOMAX Suite, organizations stand to gain on all fronts.

Small Steps Will Bear Large Returns

Today’s market is rife with new environmental challenges, the likes of which have never been experienced before. Factors such as manpower or supply chain could easily become even more problematic in the future as demand for air travel continues to rise. A willingness to embrace new ideas and methods may be the key to a new and better future for the industry. Aviation companies should consider implementing the initial stages of digitalization of their content through technical publications suites, as a hedge against future fluctuations in the market.Managing change will come much simpler, and change seems to be a fairly constant factor. New processes and materials will become game changing factors, and the ability to adopt them quickly will serve organizations very well.

Logic dictates that we look at high level indicators for success. Governments, who previously provided heavy subsidization to save the aviation industry, are paving the quickest way to recovery by offering more support to those companies ready to delve deep into solutions that will restore order to the vertical. Digitalization, the first step, should almost be an industry standard, as collaboration between OEMs, MROs, and fleet operators becomes an ever more crucial goal to achieve recovery.

Are You Ready To Begin The Digitalization Process?

SYNAXIOM has been working with aviation companies for over a decade, providing solutions for digitalization of technical publications content to Enterprise companies. If you are ready to take on today’s challenges with The NIVOMAX Suite, contact SYNAXIOM with your needs