Northrop Grumman’s approach to connected Manufacturing Planning with Teamcenter Easy Plan [VIDEO]
Northrop Grumman leverages Teamcenter Easy Plan to simplify aerospace and defense manufacturing planning, ensure compliance, and accelerate time to market.
In aerospace and defense manufacturing, no two days are the same: design changes, strict compliance, and unexpected requirement revisions keep engineers and planners on their toes.
At Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company, these challenges require finding a way to keep engineering and manufacturing connected so projects can move smoothly without errors. To address this, NGC implemented Teamcenter Easy Plan, a web-based manufacturing process planning solution from Siemens. How does it work? Let’s take a closer look.
Connecting engineering and manufacturing to overcome integration challenges
“The business challenge that we faced was integration into our systems,” says Eliot Horner from the Model-Based Manufacturing team at Northrop Grumman. With Teamcenter already in place, NGC needed it to work seamlessly with other systems, processes, and data so engineers and planners could collaborate efficiently.
Siemens Xcelerator digital manufacturing solutions are helping us reach our goals.
Eliot Horner, Northrop Grumman
Teamcenter Easy Plan in action
To support engineers and manufacturing planners in staying aligned amid complex assembly plans and frequent design changes, Northrop Grumman turned to Teamcenter Easy Plan. The solution guides teams with clear, task-based instructions, helping them follow processes consistently and reduce errors before they reach the shop floor.
Integrated within the larger digital ecosystem, Easy Plan contributes to measurable improvements: it drives a 19% boost in efficiency, cuts rework by 50% and shortens average assembly times by 35%. These outcomes show how Easy Plan, working alongside other digital solutions, transforms complex planning into a structured, reliable process that keeps engineering and manufacturing moving smoothly.
We use Teamcenter Easy Plan in the Active Workspace client and it is adopted in multiple areas in our manufacturing engineering organization.
Eliot Horner, Model-Based Manufacturing Team, Northrop Grumman
Meeting compliance requirements – early and accurately
Compliance drives every decision in the aerospace and defense industry; there’s no room for error. It’s more than a checkbox. Even a small misalignment between the engineering bill of materials (EBOM) and the manufacturing bill of materials (MBOM) can delay schedules, trigger costly rework, and jeopardize approvals.
At Northrop Grumman, teams develop complex systems that must be updated and delivered quickly to meet strict industry regulations for their customers. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DFAR) one of the industry’s strictest regulations, requires design and production data to stay perfectly aligned. This means the engineering bill of materials (EBOM) and the manufacturing bill of materials (MBOM) must match precisely, leaving zero margin for mistakes.
Now with EBOM-MBOM alignment as part of Teamcenter Easy Plan we are able to use the tool suite to provide us with the information we need to meet our customer requirements.
Eliot Horner, Model-Based Manufacturing Team, Northrop Grumman
Future-ready aerospace manufacturing
Northrop Grumman’s experience with Teamcenter Easy Plan demonstrates how Siemens’ digital manufacturing solutions improve planning without disrupting daily operations. Integration, task-based guidance, and early alignment between engineering and manufacturing make planning smoother and more consistent.
They now operate with smarter, faster, and more reliable aerospace manufacturing—today and into the future.
Curious how integrated collaboration can transform aerospace and defense manufacturing with seamless planning and simulation? Sign up now for the aerospace and defense–focused manufacturing planning trial.
