Interview: Factory Simulation Ready for Wide Adoption in Aerospace
AeroDef talks to Scott Walter, the chief technology architect for Visual Components (Lake Orion, MI) about the future of factory simulation tools for aerospace and other manufacturers.
Dr. Walter recently shared some thoughts on aerospace manufacturing trends with AeroDef. Visual Components is a 3-D manufacturing simulation and visualization specialist that services customers in aerospace, automotive, and consumer products manufacturing. Walter has over 25 years of experience in digital factory simulation.
What challenges do you think aerospace manufacturing is facing today?
The challenges in aerospace are not much different from other manufacturing, such as automotive: How to produce higher quality products for less cost. In many ways, the automotive and aerospace industries are very much the same. What is different is the scale of the product and volumes. They are both extremely complex products.
Along with this is the challenge of delivering new products to market faster. It is interesting that Ford turned to Alan Mullaly with his Boeing experience to help turn around their company, to revolutionize the products and processes at Ford. Now, it can go back in the other direction. Lessons from the automotive world can help back in aerospace. Some of the same tools used in automotive can help in aerospace.
For example, both automotive and aerospace needs flexible automation. It especially makes sense in aerospace because your production lots are so much smaller. This drives a need to have planning tools to be able to investigate how best to establish a manufacturing facility. We all know it is better if you can perform tasks in parallel rather than serial. Can you start to program your machine tools before the factory is actually in place? That saves a lot of upfront time. Parallel is enabled through visualization and simulation before you ever build a new plant or modify an existing plant. This is as important in aerospace as in any other industry.
How can the general category of factory simulation tools help aerospace manufacturers?
One way is the pressure on factory systems integrators. They are now being asked to provide all of the programming for the machines along with the physical solution as well. It is hard to program the machines before the machines are built! That is where tools like factory simulation are becoming important.
Another way is looking at the entire sequence of operation. Not what goes in just one cell or with one robot, but what goes on everywhere? Aerospace is now moving in the manufacturing sequence, moving parts to tools instead of the other way around. Using simulation one can answer that question, if that is more cost-effective. It then helps program—offline—complex and specific operations, such as welding or deburring using robots.
Finally, our tools can help understand overall throughput. It defines analytically potential bottlenecks and how to resolve them. Our software in particular combines both big picture logistics and detailed programming.
What is the rate of acceptance for your technology in aerospace?
They are very open to our technology and really are on the leading edge—if you will pardon the pun. In general, they developed many of these CAD/CAM tools and they know what they want. They are always looking for innovation.
How will further adoption of manufacturing simulation change the aerospace industry?
Using our technology will translate into higher quality, lower cost and faster delivery. It will lead to more jobs. If our simulation technology contributes to faster introduction of new products, that means new jobs. Look at some of the recent delays in introducing brand new planes like the Boeing 787—that hurts jobs.
Automation does not take away jobs—it does change job descriptions. Higher paying, good jobs that are in the information area.
You do have to be careful going about changing workflows and how aerospace engineers do their job, however. They may resist too much change.
How do you see the future of factory simulation in aerospace?
Workstations and laptops today are so much faster than when I started 25 years ago. Back then, we had no digital data, today there is an almost embarrassment of riches with data. Customers now routinely provide tooling data, product data, and robot data and the data exchange is so much easier. Even the robot models we use in simulation are so much more accurate, which enable precise off-line programming for these virtual factories.
The software is now primed to make a generational leap. It is ready to take-off, not only with the airplane manufacturers but in the suppliers as well.