Australia’s aerospace industry is evolving through innovation, collaboration, and digital transformation. Decision Maker Column – Adnan Raghdo, managing director, Boeing Aerostructures Australia.
The Australian manufacturing industry has seen significant changes over recent years, with aerospace continuing to represent an integral part of Australia’s economy, contributing through innovation, employment, and technological advancements.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian aviation sector directly contributed around $20 billion to the economy and employed approximately 90,000 people. Established companies – including Boeing Australia, with its 98-year presence – now work alongside dynamic startups to grow and inspire the next generation of aerospace innovators. Our nation is collaborating and investing together within the aerospace ecosystem, through university partnerships and research organisations such as CSIRO, small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and support from all levels of government.
Apart from some assignments in the US, I have spent most of my 35-year career at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne, the heart of Australian aerospace manufacturing. During that time, I’ve witnessed Australian ingenuity at its finest, from my work as a design engineer on indigenous guided weapons, various program, R&D, and engineering leadership roles, and now as managing director of Boeing Aerostructures Australia. I lived the industry changes from design and build of complete airplanes at Boeing in the late 80s with the Nomad, to a focus as a centre of excellence producing advanced composite commercial airplane components including for global customers, and for Boeing 737 aileron, 777 rudder and elevator and 787 moveable trailing edge. And now, the Australian industry’s revival and return to aircraft design and manufacturing of complete aircraft, namely the military collaborative combat system, the MQ-28 Ghost Bat.
Aerospace, by its nature, is cyclical and susceptible to the world economy and countless variables that could impact travel. However, our 20-year forecast is bullish on global aviation growth: we project the global passenger and freighter fleet will nearly double by 2043, with airlines needing nearly 44,000 new commercial airplanes during that time frame.
The Australian manufacturing industry continues to thrive through its ability to adapt and evolve, while balancing Australia’s size and cost structure. This is in part thanks to key elements that speak to the Aussie spirit of collaboration, how we embrace an ecosystem, and our ability to adopt digital tools and autonomy with gusto.
Trifecta: R&D, engineering and manufacturing
Integrating R&D, engineering and manufacturing offers a distinct advantage in any manufacturing industry in Australia, not just aerospace. This ecosystem concept was the foundation of success for one of Australia’s largest aerospace manufacturing programs valued at $5 billion dollars over 20 years. The design and manufacture of wing components for the 787 Dreamliner at Boeing Aerostructures Australia harnessed this ecosystem. With an environment and a culture of working together, all the different skills and talents contributed to a common purpose. I firmly believe this ecosystem delivers the keys to success in manufacturing by shaping the product design to enable the production system.
For the 787, it resulted in the selection of the best material system [developed in Australia], incorporated all the essential features for simplicity and first-pass quality during production into the product’s design, and enabled simple manufacturing processes that can accommodate automation in assembly and inspection. This ecosystem also delivered production efficiency and agility across the total cycle, an advantage when competing with other manufacturers around the world.
Automation yields safety and efficiency
Automation in aerospace manufacturing, assembly and inspection continues to lag behind other industries – but we’re making progress in Australia. Our skilled manufacturing teams have welcomed automation as it provides improved workplace safety and ergonomics for them in otherwise hazardous or repetitive jobs. Our engineers have used innovative approaches to off-the-shelf robots and cobots, adapting their use for drilling, cleaning and hard-to-access tasks, resulting in production quality and efficiency gains – while driving down repetitive stress injuries. Our Australian operations have some of the largest concentrations of robots and cobots within Boeing. Our concepts have been shared and implemented with Boeing operations around the world.
Together, we succeed
Whether it be a common Australian tradition or a necessity due to our nation’s size, collaboration has been crucial to the local aerospace industry’s endurance. The development of MQ-28, and the manufacture of the airframe on site at BAA, is a recent example of this success and of collaboration between the defence, commercial and R&D teams within Boeing Australia, together with the Royal Australian Air Force. The program also leveraged the skills and expertise of Australian industry including Defence Science Technology Group and more than 200 Australian suppliers, notably BAE Systems, many Australian SMEs, as well as universities. It’s gratifying at this point in my career to see the skills we used 50 years ago to produce Australian aircraft have resurfaced to such great results. It’s Australian know-how and ingenuity that has made the MQ-28 a reality for global customers.
Twin tools offer simplicity and improved quality
Digital design and manufacturing tools continue to evolve, but their importance cannot be overstated. Australian industry, in general, has adopted and deployed these tools and quickly adapted to extracting their benefits for factory planning, design or flight testing.
This certainly was one of the main pillars for the MQ-28 from early concept development to detailed design and manufacturing and flight test, and the success stories will be implemented back into our factories for future products. These digital tools enable the creation of Digital Twins that enable simulation and iteration of designs to create the best solutions. Just as important is the Digital Thread that gets created by these digital tools. This truly enables simplicity and better quality of the production system and product, by forever having the continuous link and connection between the design, the manufacture and the in-service use of the product.
The key elements that have enabled the Australian aerospace manufacturing industry to survive and evolve are also the key to future growth and prosperity. The creativity, curiosity and courage of Australia’s manufacturing workforce, engineers and leaders, will drive innovation, competitiveness, and sustainable growth.
