The Full Potential of Digital Transformation in Aerospace Factories – Summary
The production digital twin is a valuable tool aerospace manufacturers can use to enhance their production processes through simulation and optimization, perfect capabilities as the industry strives to increase production volumes of aircraft and spacecraft. However, it is just one part in the wider digital transformation of aerospace manufacturing. There are other technologies and strategies, both existing and emerging, that can be integrated with the production digital twin to bring aerospace manufacturing into a new era.
In the latest episode of Talking Aerospace Today, Todd Tuthill, Vice President of Aerospace, Defense, and Marine for Siemens Digital Industries Software, is joined again by Sunil Chhabra from Portfolio Development in manufacturing engineering for Siemens. Together, they identify some of these integrable technologies and how they can benefit the production digital twin and accelerate production in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry.
Tying the product to production
As discussed in the previous episode of the podcast, the production digital twin is akin to the product digital twin in that it uses similar digital modeling capabilities to virtually represent physical objects, though for factories and manufacturing processes instead of individual products. That said, the product digital twin can still play a critical role in the creation and utilization of a production digital twin.
After all, when a company is building or refitting a factory, the company needs to know what the factory is being used to build. Todd explains how the data and insight gathered by simulation the digital twin of the product or products planned for production can be used to optimize the designs and layout of a factory and its processes. For example, an assembly line will need to be big enough to fit the parts it works with, but it also should not be so big that the manufacturer spends too much money and material to build it.
By integrating data from the product digital twin, the production digital twin can better optimize aerospace manufacturers’ production processes for their specific needs.
Immersive factory planning
Meanwhile, emerging technologies that are currently being developed also have the potential to enhance how engineers interact with the production digital twin. One such technology is immersive engineering, otherwise known as the industrial metaverse.
At the moment, simulations of the production digital twin are most often displayed as a 3D model on a 2D screen, limiting ways for manufacturing engineers to interact with and learn about their production processes. What immersive engineering offers, according to Sunil, is a new way to visualize and interact with those production processes through augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). With these methods, engineers can directly interact with their production processes in a 3D, virtual environment, as if they were interacting with the real thing.
Interacting with the production digital twin this way can give engineers better insights into the workings of their production processes and better comprehend how any changes they make impact the wider ecosystem.
Manufacturing with AI
Another emerging technology Sunil and Todd say can benefit the production digital twin is artificial intelligence (AI). The production digital twin incorporates and utilizes immense amounts of data which can be difficult for human engineers to manage when making design changes or running simulations. AI, however, can sort through such data at record speeds, and can then use that data to answer queries or provide recommendations engineers might otherwise miss.
Todd also highlights how AI can help the A&D industry with its ongoing workforce issue. According to him, even if there are plenty of people who want to work in the A&D industry, they often lack the training and expertise of older engineers that are currently retiring. Fortunately, AI copilots will have quick access to a wealth of information from their manufacturers, providing newer engineers with the knowledge necessary to understand the products and production processes they are working with, making onboarding easier and manufacturing more efficient.
A new era for aerospace manufacturing
Digital transformation and its associated technologies have exciting potential to improve aerospace manufacturing like never before. Integrating the production digital twin with data from the product digital twin enables manufacturers to better optimize their production processes for the aircraft and spacecraft they produce. Meanwhile, new technologies such as immersive engineering and AI have the potential to transform how engineers interact with their processes and find new ways to boost efficiency, quality, and timing.
Innovative solutions like these are required as the A&D industry seeks to increase the production volumes of new aircraft and spacecraft, all the while facing demands for higher product qualities and faster times-to-market. Digital transformation can help aerospace manufacturers meet these challenges head on, and the production digital twin will be central to those efforts.
To learn more about the digital transformation of aerospace manufacturing, check out previous episodes on the Talking Aerospace Today podcast.
Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens’ software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries. Siemens Digital Industries Software – Accelerating transformation.
