Airframe Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)

The global commercial aerospace sector is expected to sustain its significant revenue and earnings growth driven by increases in air travel and utilization rates. Airlines and operators are accelerating the replacement of older aircraft with modern fuel-efficient aircraft that take advantage of new materials, composites and technologies. To meet this record demand estimated at over 43,000 new aircraft for the next 20 years, aircraft OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) must transform every aspect of design, production and delivery while driving additional efficiency and customization.

With more than 100 years of ground-breaking technology advances behind it, the aerospace industry in the next 10 years will experience equally dramatic developments in multiple fields.

OEMs must consider how to adopt advanced materials, robotics, additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, advanced analytics and other technologies to help achieve greater effectiveness and versatility together with their supply chain in delivering manned and unmanned systems, greater fuel efficiency in commercial aircraft and increased reliability and cost-effectiveness across the board.

Analysts estimate that over 30 percent of errors and waste occur during production. OEMs are working hard to manage ever increasing system complexity while meeting aggressive production delivery targets.

Companies are looking to the Future Factory, also referred to as Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing and the Connected Factory, to create highly automated, interconnected manufacturing capabilities to ramp up and down with market demand. 

This agility in rate will help OEMs and their supply chains drive efficiency, reduce waste and shorten product development cycles to meet market demand.

Regional OEMs and startups are entering the marketplace in greater numbers, bringing with them commercial practices that enable them to be more agile, have an appetite for greater risk and a demonstrated track record of rapid innovation.

New technologies have lowered the previous barriers-to-entry, allowing non-traditional players to not just gain a foothold in core markets, but also to upend legacy players.