Sky-high standards

This article first appeared on Aerospace Manufacturing

Chris Morton consults with aerospace and defence companies and suggests lessons that newcomers to aerospace manufacturing should learn – and how they can focus their efforts.

Learning from your own failures is a terrible idea. Instead, learn from others.

Over the past year, a spate of high-profile aviation incidents have garnered the attention of regulators, the public, and the aerospace industry at large. When incidents are a result of material or mechanical failure, scrutiny immediately turns to a manufacturer’s quality management system (QMS). AS9100 outlines multiple principles as it relates to an organisation’s QMS, but based on recent lessons, new players in aerospace manufacturing should zero in on three: process approach (deploy one and use it), leadership (quality is an outcome of culture), and evidence-based decision making (it’s all about the data).

Deploy a premier manufacturing business system and use it.

A process-based approach to operations improves efficiency, provides predictability, and improves quality. Process-centric manufacturing as a concept dates back to the 18th Century with The Wealth of Nations. Things have changed since then, and sophisticated manufacturing requires a few more steps than the eighteen needed to manufacture pins. This is especially true with ceramic matrices, composite materials, and additive manufacturing required for modern airframes. Strict adherence to these processes—along with appropriate governance—is required for the safety of those aboard aircraft. When humans are in the loop in manufacturing processes (which I believe they always should be), there is opportunity for deviation.

Recent aviation incidents have shed light on the fact that deviations from manufacturing processes can potentially be fatal. How can new manufacturers mitigate risk? Organisations must prioritise a business system that leverages the best practices in the aerospace industry while also prescribing adherence through governance to the process. This may feel like the tail wagging the dog - using technology to drive the process versus creating technology that follows your process. But in the aerospace, real problems arise by not adhering to regulated processes.  Guardrails provided by a premier, aerospace-specific manufacturing business system provides appropriate safeguards to protect the business, your employees, and your customers.

Leadership in aerospace demands a focus first on quality, second on quality, and third on quality.

The aerospace manufacturing industry is different. It just is. But it is influenced by trends in other industries; electrification is an example. Governments and the automotive industry have aggressively pursued electrification for years. Recent technological innovations - lighter composite materials, smaller batteries, and higher reliability electronics - have enabled this trend to expand to aircraft. Venture capitalism and relatively cheap capital spurred funding of multiple start-ups and forays into the electrification of aircraft. The prospect of electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) platforms have captured the interests of many for their potential applications across the aviation spectrum. But eVTOLs will not be electric vehicles that fly; they will be aircraft that are powered by electricity. The regulatory framework regarding quality of aircraft, not EVs, will rule the day. Leaders of new manufacturers need to be aware of this heuristic so that they approach quality management with utmost seriousness. New manufacturers and start-ups face the same regulations as the big boys. Quality control in aerospace isn’t just a matter of best practices; it is a matter of the law. And it’s not just civil penalties. After a recent incident aboard a US-based air carrier, passengers were notified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that they may have been victims of a crime. Technological newbies to the aerospace manufacturing world (looking at you, eVTOL manufacturers) will receive fresh and deep scrutiny. Your aircraft are unproven tech. And if you want to fly people over populated areas, you must get it right. This demands leadership that sets a culture of quality above all else.

Evidence-based decision making is all about the data.

A premortem is where one imagines a significant failure in the future, and then reconstructs the reasons for that failure. To mitigate risk, every aerospace manufacturer should use this method to think about their processes. When an aircraft incident is a result of material or mechanical failure, regulators will reconstruct what, when, and why it happened, and who is responsible. The burden of proof rests not on investigators, but rather manufacturers. The evidence that investigative bodies will use to make their decisions will come from the manufacturers themselves - the data must be pristine.

Some accident investigations are done to prevent further incidents and mitigate them with safety improvements, while others may assign culpability. In both scenarios, if you imagine a premortem where you are being investigated as a potential source of the incident, you will find that the data is everything. Manufacturers need to know what work was conducted, who carried it out, what materials were used, what inspections validated the work, and who conducted those quality inspections. All of this data floating around paper and excel spreadsheets has numerous deleterious impacts, including errors, record loss, cumbersome audits, auditor loss of confidence, etc.  In your premortem, the morning headline should read, “Aerospace Manufacturer exonerated as records show high quality process,” not, “Aerospace Manufacturer can’t find records.” You may have a high-quality process, but incomplete, error prone records tell a different story. Data is king.

Vern Law, an American baseball player, said: “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives you the test first, the lesson afterwards.” Aerospace manufacturers can’t afford to learn from their own experiences and their own failures. New players in this space should learn from today’s headlines and apply QMS principles early on: deploy a process approach driven by a modern business system, drive a quality culture through focused leadership, and gather the evidence and data necessary to make decisions. Aviation has always been on the leading edge of advanced technology, while applying it in a safe way. Due to the industry’s culture of safety and quality, driving to the airport is riskier than the flight itself. Maybe soon, we’ll fly to the airport too.