Using technology to make the most of worker skills

All photos credit : Norgren Inc.

Labor shortages have been a recurring challenge in aerospace manufacturing. In 2013, nearly 40% of aerospace companies reported labor shortages were seriously impacting their growth.

The need for more skilled labor coincided with the rise and fall in airlines’ demand for new aircraft. This has worsened with the age of the workforce as large numbers of skilled workers have reached or neared retirement, with few training programs developing new workers. COVID-19 made the situation worse, forcing the workforce to downsize as air travel stalled, followed by renewed demand for production as air travel resumed. The aerospace industry lost more than 87,000 employees in 2020.

Manufacturers need solutions that enable workers to focus on the most valuable tasks to optimize productivity. This can be accomplished by retooling with versatile manufacturing components that reduce worker time and effort, using automation, and introducing digital tools.

Versatile components take less effort

Tools and components that can be applied to multiple processes require less worker time and energy to implement, maximizing productivity. Options that have versatile functions, or require less user intervention to function, mean workers can focus on production rather than adjusting machinery or swapping out parts.

A soft jaw must be made to the specifications of the part that it needs to hold, and different soft jaws must be swapped in and out to accommodate the cascade of different parts involved in manufacturing. To remove a soft jaw, then set up, configure, and inspect the new one takes an hour to complete without considering time to create and program the new part.

Incorporating tools, such as the Adaptix Soft Jaw that can adjust to hold different parts with consistent clamping force, reduces the need for switching out. This cuts preparation time from 60 minutes to 5 minutes, and the soft jaw grips with comparable force and repeatability of single-use options. Implementing production tools serving multiple purposes reduces time spent on non-production tasks, improving efficiency since workers can tend to functions requiring their expert skill sets, rather than performing simple tasks.

Automation minimizes labor-intensive tasks

In aerospace manufacturing, there are many repetitive, strenuous tasks which can cause physical strain for workers. This is concerning because of the risk of fatigue- related error in a zero-error tolerance industry and the need to protect a limited workforce from burnout and injury.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, manufacturing accounted for roughly 15% of nonfatal workplace injury and illness in 2019, with approximately 421,000 reported cases, more than a quarter resulting in multiple days away from the workplace. Manufacturers can’t afford to lose workers with an already diminished workforce.

Automation helps alleviate this challenge. Robots and collaborative robots (cobots) have gained a great deal of attention by offering consistent work and aren’t subject to injury. Cobots are designed to assist a stretched-thin workforce, specifically made to work safely alongside humans. While not desirable or realistic to take over all manufacturing, sensors and reprogrammable software let cobots handle some repetitive and strenuous tasks that don’t require a great deal of skill or dexterity, freeing workers to focus on tasks that require more skill and intuitive decision-making, while lessening the risk of injury.

Automation shortens processes that are time and labor intensive. Hand layup for composite fabrication requires the repeated manipulation of many layers of materials to construct a part. It can be a tedious process and robotic arms can take some of that burden, allowing simultaneous production of multiple parts supervised by one worker. Some aerospace manufacturers have adopted automated composite fabrication for the construction of larger and less complex parts. Automated fiber placement still requires human visual inspections between layers, ensuring consistency and detecting any errors, but thermal imaging to identify defects has shown promise in reducing the need for inspections that slow the process.

Digital tools inform performance

With the growth of Industry 4.0, increasing numbers of manufacturing equipment are digitally connected collecting data. While this kind of data brings its own concerns, such as cybersecurity, it can be used across the whole aerospace industry. The applications of digital connectivity open up new possibilities for assisting workers along with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). As equipment generates data, AI gathers and analyzes to recognize patterns and provide information about the function of production lines to improve processes and performance.

If a particular machine is likely to experience mechanical issues, AI can predict, notify before it impacts production, and provide suggestions for solutions. This saves time and energy spent on repairs during diagnostic processes, so workers experience less downtime waiting for mechanical problems to be resolved. AI is also used for part production analysis to identify any flaws, reducing time required for testing the product or remediating any issues.

Some aerospace manufacturers have been exploring the use of augmented reality (AR) through smart glasses or other wearables to provide workers with information to assist them in speed and accuracy. Smart glasses put complex instructions, such as wire harness assembly, directly within the workers’ field of vision, keeping their hands on the task. Airbus implemented smart glasses to assist with cabin seat marking and achieved a 500% increase in productivity for that task and a reduction of errors to zero.

Conclusion

As the aerospace manufacturing industry continues to face workforce challenges, supporting existing staff through strategic use of technology is key in helping offset the need for more workers. From versatile manufacturing components reducing time spent on adjusting machinery, to automation reducing strenuous tasks, to digital tools to optimize performance, are some of the ways technology helps. Combining these tools will enable aerospace manufacturers to be better prepared to overcome obstacles in the future.

Norgren Workholding

About the author: Tom Wood is senior director of growth initiatives at Norgren Inc. He can be reached at tom.wood@imi-precision.com.