Technology Roadmapping : R&D Planning Coordination Between Component Supplier-System Integrator

Abstract

This study conducted experiments to test how technology division structures are expressed and analyzed on a technology roadmap by identifying the relationships between system integration and components during the development of the T-50 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> aircraft in the aerospace industry. The aerospace industry has the typical features of a complex structure, requiring the integration of several million components and requires a high technology concentration in each assembly phases. Further, the aerospace industry also has unique features that undergo a great value chain variation in accordance with the purchasing power between an aircraft system integrator (final manufacturer) and a few demand monopoly firms (military or airliners). Accordingly, a system integrator shall need an operational plan, which combines an appropriate development of demand firm's needs with existing technology resources, further requiring close cooperation among several component supplying firms. On the other side, an aerospace component has very complex and precise operational procedures that must meet strict safety regulations due to their effects of aircraft safety and reliability. Because of these reasons, system integrators and component suppliers have a strong value chain structure of technology dependence and operations. Thus, reciprocal information sharing and cooperative development strategies between firms form an indispensable operational foundation for aircraft development. That is, it is necessary to have an appropriate planning system to consider both commercialization and vast R&D costs when establishing common development strategies among technology organizations. A technology roadmap is designed around detailed strategic forecasts of technology in the developmental phase, and includes time planning between organizations that, in turn creates new technologies for future development strategies. After the initial development results, we noticed a great time discrepancy in the commercialization phase, due to information and technology asymmetries between system integrators and component suppliers