FLUG REVUE September 2002: Suppliers are basis of aerospace industry

SUPPLIERS AS CENTRES OF SPECIALIST AVIATION EXPERTISE

By Volker K. Thomalla

The components industry is one of the best kept secrets in the aerospace industry. Without it, no aircraft would take off, no missiles would be launched and no satellite would reach its orbit. Often external suppliers are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Operating mostly at their own risk and using their own financial resources, they develop subsystems and components which seem like unremarkable individual components when one considers the aircraft as a whole. Sensors, connectors for cables and pipes, lighting, seats, avionics, cabin control panels, headphones, landing gear components, parts of the internal furnishings, cockpit and cabin window glass, coffee machines for passenger aircraft – the list of parts in a plane that are supplied by the components industry seems interminable. The proportion of the total value of an aircraft which is accounted for by external suppliers comes to a high double-digit percentage.

Yet all the glory of having developed an advanced, high tech aeroplane goes to the aircraft manufacturer. Of course the manufacturer must have the competence to design and build the plane as a complete system, but nevertheless one should not underestimate the amount of development work carried out by the suppliers, working closely with the aircraft manufacturers. The big names do not have a monopoly on sophisticated high-tech, but small and flexible enterprises feed their expertise into the products of large companies to the mutual benefit of both sides.

Examples of this abound. For instance, Boeing is without a doubt a master in airliner aerodynamics. Nevertheless, the winglets on the wingtips of the Boeing Business Jet and the new generation 737s were developed not by Boeing itself but by Aviation Partners, a small company which specialises in the design, testing and production of winglets. Thanks to Aviation Partners, Boeing is able to offer its customers a 737 with longer range, lower fuel consumption and better climbing capability.

Another, less spectacular example is the interior lighting in airliners. Up to now fluorescent tubes have primarily been used in passenger cabins. They have a long, but limited life. They also generate heat, which is undesirable especially behind wall panelling. The modern alternative to this type of lighting is light-emitting diodes (LEDs). These have extremely low power consumption, make do with little voltage, are brighter than fluorescent tubes, more flexible to install and generate virtually no heat. Moreover, they last longer than fluorescent tubes. The Learjet 40, unveiled by Bombardier at the Farnborough Air Show, will be one of the first aircraft to utilise LED cabin lighting. Once again this innovation was developed not by a big company, but by an external supplier.

The aerospace components industry earns billions in sales world-wide and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs. The trend on the part of big companies to buy up small firms as part of the international consolidation process so as to acquire their know-how has come to a halt. The big players have recognised that these supposedly small fry work better and are able to come up more quickly with solutions to technical problems when they stay independent. "Overconsolidation” of the aerospace industry into only a few global players would not only curtail the competitiveness of the entire industry but it would also hamper technological progress as a whole. It is precisely because of its SME structure that the components industry has become the technological flagship of the industry.

From FLUG REVUE 9/2002, page 4

Last updated 9 August 2002

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