Aerospace and defense (A&D) companies understand the challenges of Big Data better than most industries. With decades of incorporating computerized automation and sensors into products, A&D professionals like you are ahead of the curve in comprehending how the Internet of Things (IoT) creates burgeoning data volumes that can disrupt operations and business models.
How can you turn these huge volumes of Big Data into new competitive opportunities? A&D companies that successfully learn to unlock the value hidden within Big Data will be best prepared to navigate this change and transform their business. Let’s consider three areas in manufacturing and services where Big Data can help A&D companies transform their business today.
1. Improving operational excellence across the value chain
By analyzing Big Data, many SAP customers have discovered new insights that helped them to reduce non-conformance in production processes, monitor production progress in real time, optimize short-term resource allocation, and gain full visibility of the plant floor so they can increase responsiveness to unplanned events. Here are two use cases:
Figure 1. Sample Real-Time Monitoring Data
In addition, digital aviation firms can use equipment data to support decision making. By blending airline operational data, airplane performance, and OEM engineering information, A&D companies are creating value-added services – such as maintenance planning, fleet benchmarking, and lifecycle cost analysis – that help build customer loyalty, increase service revenue, and improve equipment reliability.
3. Innovating with new Big Data solutions
OEMs can use SAP technologies to create or enhance Big Data solutions and services to better address growing demands in new markets, from cybersecurity to situational awareness. Many firms are using analytics to grow in the highly competitive aftermarket segment, by offering differentiated IT services around fleet and asset management. (In fact, some A&D manufacturers now have more IT developers than SAP.) Benefits include reduced time to market and decreased cost for Big Data initiatives as well as a renewed focus on core capabilities by engineers.
Getting started
What’s the best way to maximize your own Big Data opportunities? Consider the following questions:
SAP offers a differentiated Big Data platform that can help you solve your most complex A&D problems (see Figure 2). With in-memory computing supported by SAP HANA, companies can apply data science, predictive analytics, geospatial analysis, and full text analysis to data from any source. These new technologies can be embedded into the core products of A&D companies or created as standalone solutions for customers.
Figure 2. Unified Big Data Platform for the Digital A&D Enterprise
The opportunities are infinite. “Think about the art of the possible,” asks James Cocca, CIO of Spirit Aerosystems. “What’s a problem you can’t solve – a $10 or $50 million problem? How can you apply the SAP HANA technology to solve it? That’s the real return.” With decades of experience helping leading A&D companies to maximize business opportunities, SAP is ready to help you commercialize your Big Data opportunities.
For more information, please visit our Website on Big Data opportunities for the A&D industry at www.sap.com/aerospace/bigdata.
About the author:
Magnus Bjorendahl leads the global aerospace and defense industry business unit within the Solutions Go to Market organization at SAP. He is responsible for the strategic success of the solution portfolio across the aerospace and defense industry.
[1] Matthew Finnegan, “Boeing 787s to create half a terabyte of data per flight, says Virgin Atlantic,” ComputerWorld UK, March 6, 2013
[2] “787 Airplane Health Management Overview,” March 2013, http://www.boeing.com/787-media-resource/docs/AHM-overview.pdf
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