Factory 4.0, a transformation driver for the entire aerospace industry

Industry 4.0, Smart factory, Factory of the Future… all these trending terms actually harbor the same promise, namely, to revolutionize aerospace by making factories smart and connected. As competition becomes ever fiercer and pressure grows for decarbonization – plus the fact that air traffic will eventually return to strong pre-pandemic growth rates –new digital technologies offer tremendous potential for enhancing competitiveness and agility, while at the same time reducing energy costs and improving working conditions. The fourth industrial revolution is already a reality at Safran Landing Systems and parent company Safran, as shown by advanced technologies such as digital continuity, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, closed door machining, robotics and cobotics, which are already gaining a foothold in today’s top aerospace programs and will be ubiquitous tomorrow. ?

While technological innovations for products and materials are obviously a key to the future of aviation, so is the modernization of production facilities. Starting now, and even more so in the future, we have to improve our operational performance to meet the needs of the aerospace industry and society as a whole. In short, we need to sharpen our competitiveness and agility and significantly reduce development and production cycles, while at the same time cutting costs and delivering impeccable quality to customers. To meet these challenges, Safran Landing Systems is incorporating the latest digital technologies in its operations and as part of employees’ daily activities. ?

Cobotics, short for collaborative robotics, is one of the most widely used Smart Factory techniques in our plants. It combines the advantages of a robot (strength, precision, repeatability and consistency) with unique human qualities (know-how, analysis, decision-making, etc.). Teamwork between humans and machines results in vastly improved productivity and quality, as well as health and safety. At our plant in Molsheim, eastern France, we’re testing a digital ergonomic coaching system that’s designed to improve operators’ posture and movements for more efficient workstation organization. ?

Closed door machining refers to outfitting a production line with standalone machines that are capable of performing continuous machining with a minimum of human input. In addition, these systems provide near real-time monitoring of any deviations or weak signals, thus allowing operators to plan ahead for maintenance. Using the closed door machining approach, our landing gear production plants in Bidos (southwest France) and Mirabel (near Montreal) have cut their production cycles in half. Other benefits include higher productivity because the machines operate round-the-clock; reduced risks of poor quality; better scheduling of workshop tasks; lower occupational safety risks related to parts and tool handling; and a rise up the skills chain for our operators, who can now focus on higher value-added tasks (supervision, troubleshooting, etc.). ?

Virtual reality – immersive, versatile and accessible to everybody involved in a program – is increasingly an integral part of our projects. Using this technology allows us to evaluate different equipment assembly and disassembly scenarios without actually having to handle the parts, as well as communicate directly with our customers, suppliers and colleagues around the world about any issues, with everybody seeing the same virtual product. We can also simulate the feasibility of certain maintenance operations once our landing gear has been installed on an aircraft and conduct studies for the installation or duplication of assembly lines, by allowing teams from several sites to work on the same digital model at the same time. ?

Augmented reality provides real cognitive help to our operators; for instance, digital instructions are superimposed over the actual part, including data and 3D images, to guide them through the required steps in real time. This method offers impressive benefits in terms of quality, productivity, traceability and even training.?Furthermore, at the height of the pandemic, these remote assistance systems allowed us to continue delivering top-flight technical support to our customers. ?

We’re also developing digital inspection systems, which are in fact robots with sophisticated algorithms that check the compliance and quality of our parts at every step of the lifecycle. The upshot is time savings, which means lower inspection costs. ?

By 2024 we plan to deploy an industrial data analysis system to cross-check product data with industrial process data to identify any differences, which can then be corrected. Analyzing and managing industrial data is a powerful way of improving the availability of our industrial facilities and reducing energy consumption, by only operating machines when really needed. ?

As part of our drive to enhance the overall efficiency of our plants, by 2025 we should have a digital twin of our factories and all machinery and equipment. This will allow us to determine the best location for each machine and the best layout for each workshop, while optimizing maintenance of all facilities and tracking our energy consumption. ?

As impressive as this seems, the smart factory is not just a stack of digital technologies. To unleash its full potential, we must ensure the digital continuity of our products, systems and infrastructures across the entire process, from development and production to support and logistics. The ultimate aim is to speed up exchanges, share the same information, ensure a consistent configuration and capitalize on data traceability. ?

All of these major changes naturally entail critical challenges in terms of human resources. That’s why we’ve already started to help our staff learn new digital skills (data analysis, artificial intelligence, etc.) and behavioral methods (working in project and agile mode). At the same time, we’re actively recruiting new talent with the key skills in emerging disciplines needed to support our digital transformation.?

Data architects and engineers, data analysts, data scientists – at Safran Landing Systems your skills and talent can be put to work to address the exciting challenge of transforming our factories in the Industry 4.0 landscape!?