Main differences and commonalities between the aircraft and the automotive industry

Abstract

The aircraft as well as the automotive industry have changed tremendously in recent years. This has mainly an impact on sales market globalization, increasing product individualization and product development process standardization. Strongly differentiating production sites are forming a global network, stronger product differentiation and transferring added values to suppliers. A new trend is the additional focus on design, development expertise and production coordination. Both industries have high quality standards, efficiency, individualization and innovative technology in common, raising the question: what are the chances to learn from each other’s production and supply chain processes? Figure 1 provides an overview of the main differences between the two products and their production. The differences between Aircraft and Automobil can also result in various similarities such as product individualization for customers causing significant alterations, the aim to reduce delivery time and to streamline production and logistics processes by using a large number of nonvariables, assembly group and site modularization, improving factory utilization and a transition to a flexible production line, supply chain control as well as production process digitization in early stages of the product development and throughout production. Both industries are challenged by similar trends.