The coronavirus pandemic has hit almost every global business very hard, and the aerospace industry is no exception to this trend. It has been estimated that it will take aerospace industry around five years to recover from the effects of this pandemic. Moreover, this pandemic has also thrown a spanner in the upcoming trends in the aerospace engineering and the industry itself.
We do not know what challenges the aerospace industry will face once the coronavirus pandemic is over. But, it is absolutely worth it to understand the various challenges the aerospace industry faces. Therefore, we have discussed here the five most pressing challenges that are staring into the eyes of the aerospace industry.
1. Supply Chain Challenges
Over the last decade, aerospace industry has experienced significant growth in every manufacturing sub-sector, especially in sectors that manufacture Aero and Avation steels acc. to AIR 9160C. It is estimated that the overall production for the aircrafts will increase by 25 percent. It needs to be understood that the supply chain of aviation industry sprawls all over the globe. Therefore, meeting these challenges of production growth while maintaining operational excellence seems like an incredibly ambitious task.
Therefore, meeting these supply chain challenges will demand tight deadlines to be achieved which require high level of digitalization. According to recent surveys, the digitalization of the aviation industry is far from complete because one in three companies working in the aerospace industry’s supply chain is still offline. Moreover, 41 percent of such companies have at least digitalized their interaction with customers. But, those companies who remain ignorant of this immense need of digitalization in the future will become obsolete in the coming days.
2. Digital or Cyber Security
On the one hand, aerospace industry desperately needs digitalization, and on the other, digitalization makes it incredibly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Therefore, there is an immense need to invest in cyber security tools because there are various organizations in the industry that are constantly under attack via sophisticated tools like cloud computing and viruses. Moreover, the fact that the aerospace industry is closely linked with the defense industry is crucial because of the need to invest in the security of the industry’s digital footprint.
3. Political Turmoil
Since the supply chain of the aerospace industry has sprawled over the globe, it is closely linked with the political turmoil happening in different countries. Political changes affect the prevalent policies, which may result in changes in the aerospace industries. For example, Brexit created a lot of ripples in the aerospace industry because it involved a lot of layoffs and brought with it a lot of uncertainties.
4. The Chinese Factor
China has been attacking almost every global supply chain with full force by bringing products to various cheaper markets despite meeting the prevalent international standards. Similar is the case in the industry where China, in collaboration with Russia, has developed its own wide-bodied long-range plane to rival the Airbus and Boeing. The Chinese government subsidizes the project and is all set to capture the massive Asian market, which is expected to throw a destabilizing spanner in the commercial aerospace industry.
5. Massive Data Requirements
The aerospace industry is incredibly data-intensive and, therefore, requires humungous computer power to cope with the industry’s production growth. It will not be enough for organizations to have enough power in the present. Instead, every organization of this supply chain will have to ensure that they scale their systems regularly to meet the burgeoning international demand.
