The document discusses the challenges facing the aerospace industry and how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) can help address them. It notes that the industry is increasingly outsourcing work to subcontractors while also facing pressure to reduce development and production timelines. PLM emerged in the 1990s as a way to manage information across the entire lifecycle from design through production and maintenance. By providing a centralized system, PLM allows all stakeholders to collaborate more effectively throughout the process. The conclusion states that if all actors in the value chain can efficiently adopt PLM, it could significantly reduce costs and optimize operations in aerospace.

1. The multiplication of developments
and interaction impose an efficient,
reliable and viable system
Jérémy LECOINTRE
The ‘Product Life Management’, a
challenge for Aerospace

2. • The Aerospace context
• The PLM concept, what is it ?
• Interface between all the actors
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
CONTENT

3. Nowadays the Aerospace field sees a consequential figure of these activities outsourced through subcontracting. In fact
the most important actors of this environment decided a few years ago, to focus on their core business, the architectural design,
integration, assembly and commercialization. This refocusing includes a greater importance for subcontractors with a figure which regularly
illustrates this orientation which is from 70 to 80 percent of the turnover which belong to purchasing costs. This choice has been taken to
concentrate on the specialties of product development and of the manufacturing process, which are relatively long with a product up to
thirty years of life cycle and a return on investment of around fifteen years.
What is the current context of this Aerospace field ?
The Aerospace context

4. The financial context encourages involvement of suppliers in a important way by taking a part of the economic and
technical risks, since subcontractors are chosen according their excellence and their control in several jobs. This has allowed the largest
guarantee for development and the manufacturing of the products, systems and others. Moreover the bipolar concurrency between Airbus
and Boeing, and other concurrencies coming from emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia or China, obligates all of the actors to reduce
the time of the devices commercialization, otherwise said the period between the beginning of the development and the first hours of flying
of the product. It’s due to these reasons that the control and the project management, and in particular, product development are more
than necessary.
The Aerospace context
Which orientations are taken in order to answer the next challenges ?
The context involves, of course an interaction between these many actors,
this relation is by consequence the central element of success, but how are these relations
managed ? What are the means which allow to efficient management product development
and interaction between these thousands of collaborators ?
How is this context organized ?

5. It’s in this context that the PLM « Product Life Management »
appeared during the mid 90’s with its main target being to fill the gap in the market
of I.T. management of the life cycle of the product. The development of this
software took into account, the design with the management of data and
calculation and the manufacture with updates and improvements. Thanks to this
structure of information doesn’t tie at business or projects but in fact the product,
this management of the end of the life cycle including such as obsolescence and
monitoring for new technology are integrated in this process. All of these points
make the link between the design output from CAD and the ERP which will
manage planning, scheduling, stock management and resources, … .
The PLM, what is it ?
The PLM concept, the solution ?

6. The targets that PLM answered, are becoming obvious inside the
aerospace activities because they allowed the satisfaction of the context around
the subcontractors, from the decrease of the design time to a better follow up
regarding the product/process, context explained in the first paragraph.
Henceforth the development of a product by a subcontractor or another will be
managed, scheduled, and planned thanks to this software and all of these actors
will interact following their jobs. The integrated firm will have a much more
upstream vision of these subassemblies, the department such as industrialization
will give their point of view about manufacturability and the cost of manufacturing
even though the product is still virtual. Moreover these different steps will be
executed by a very “official” milestones with the approvals of the entire stake
holders thanks to everybody taking their responsibilities regarding the design,
cost, quality, manufacturing and delivery for the years to come.
The PLM, what is it ?
The PLM concept, the solution ?

7. However all of these concerned stakeholders, suppliers, OEM, integrators and contractors are they the technical and
financial means to access this software ? Will they communicate in the only and same basis, a common server ? The subcontractor of
mechanical production of ten collaborators will have the same capacity as integrators being a structure allowing to develop this concept,
this device ? For several years, the Cloud concept has appeared and allowed a lot of people but also many firms to share data and with an
easy and accessibilities way just with a simple internet connection. This point will be answered in the future at the problematic of this
current world, design activities in one country, manufacturing in another country, marketing in another, etc., that to say a multiplication of
collaborators throughout the planet and the management about these interactions will be easy only with an efficient system, an available
and already set up efficient system over the world, Internet. So the cloud will run with internet. Other strengths and advantages are
attributed to “PLM cloud”, the low maintenance of this device, not a pro software in reality but simply a service such as one we could find
on the internet like a forum or website. This low investment cost, no need to buy a license, it will not be necessary and the last one and
may be the most important the sharing of information will be under control with limited and authorization access with some distribution lists.
The interface between all of the actors
Interaction is it adapted to all of the stakeholders ?

8. Thus the running for a product, a process more efficiency is indeed current. This is incorporated in a context of
globalization of sharing, multiplication of sector’s collaborators, suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, designers and OEM. Moreover in
addition to there are more and more competitors present; North America and Europe will see their market share with the new commers of
this activity, like China, Brazil and Russia also. Everything brings two main targets, firstly to be at the top of the technology everywhere and
every time, secondly and finally to make these products and these technologies at very competitive price. These targets make PLM, a
essential and vital tool to reach this important strategy.
In conclusion, the future of PLM in the aerospace field could really save money and gain optimization if all of the actors
included the value-added chain will be able to appropriate simply and efficiently the PLM concept.
Conclusion

9. Jérémy LECOINTRE
lecointre.jeremy@hotmail.fr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremylecointre

10. Bibliography
• « Aerospace in Canada » website, august 2014
• « La technologie PLM est « essentielle pour l’avenir du secteur de l’aéronautique » » SIEMENS’s article, 2014
• « L’état de l’industrie aérospatiale canadienne » AIAC report, 2014
• « Rapport d’activités » aéromontréal website, 2013
• « Cloud Computing » itespresso’s article, december 2012
• « Avions, marchés et usines du futur » Human sciences magazine, december 2013
• « Le blog PLM pour l'industrie » website, 2014
• « La construction aéronautique civile face à sept défis », polytechnique monthly review, May 2009
• « Le nouveau modèle industriel d'Airbus », usine nouvelle, july 2010
• « Les principaux concepts des systèmes PLM » day of PLM, 2009
• « Les mutations dans le secteur aéronautique » MIRE’s studies, 2006
• « Les différentes étapes de l'évolution de l'ERP et PLM » Technology evaluation centers, july 2013