Abstract
Establishing collaboration strategies with interdisciplinary networks in research is a crucial success factor for the companies in any sector, especially in manufacturing for aeronautics. In the aeronautical supply chain, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) lack of these types of alliances with universities and other research institutions, which could give them access to shared and specialized knowledge, may strictly limit those companies to learning from their own experience. One way to break this dynamic for industrial companies is to be an active part of research, development, and innovation centres. In this paper, a study to create new advanced manufacturing centres is presented, centres whose activities are focused on Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 5–7. The approach is based on a project management methodology, and it is applied to the aeronautical sector in the Basque Country. An initial study of the international experience and state of the art in this type of facility, as well as an analysis of the current socioeconomic environment of the Basque Country are presented. A benchmark study was done to identify the key processes that this centre must promote for this initiative to succeed, or those areas of knowledge that can make or break the initiative. Finally, the results showed a definitive picture for establishing an advanced manufacturing centre in the Basque Country. This work lays both the foundations of knowledge in the sector and the difficulties noted, so it can serve as guidance for similar initiatives.
Highlights
The aviation sector, even though it has always been distinguished by establishing highly demanding requirements on the design and manufacturing of its components, has always been just behind on some issues such as the organization of production and manufacturing, compared to other sectors such as automotive and car component making [1]
In design or engineering, the direct application of the developments achieved through Research and Development (R&D) was and is the mark of the sector
According to the studies done by Hegan, the Basque aerospace cluster sector—leaving aside the airlines, ground handling, and airport service organizations—includes companies that are focused on engineering, manufacturing, and design that integrate the work of first level (Tier 1), e.g., large structures, engines, and complete subsystems; companies that carry out the integration of second level subsets (Tier 2), e.g., components, tool manufacturing, machining, heat and surface treatment; and research companies; institutes; and universities
Summary
The aviation sector, even though it has always been distinguished by establishing highly demanding requirements on the design and manufacturing of its components, has always been just behind on some issues such as the organization of production and manufacturing, compared to other sectors such as automotive and car component making [1]. In design or engineering, the direct application of the developments achieved through Research and Development (R&D) was and is the mark of the sector. The current situation that productivity matters is really a keystone to achieve the short-term goal of delivering new engines or airframes for the always-growing market demand. According to the studies done by Hegan, the Basque aerospace cluster sector—leaving aside the airlines, ground handling, and airport service organizations—includes companies that are focused on engineering, manufacturing, and design that integrate the work of first level (Tier 1), e.g., large structures, engines, and complete subsystems; companies that carry out the integration of second level subsets (Tier 2), e.g., components, tool manufacturing, machining, heat and surface treatment; and research companies; institutes; and universities. The cluster has set as one of its priority objectives the internationalization of its companies through a strong R&D investment necessary to maintain their position in the market [17]
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