Integration of 3D printing in the Canadian aerospace value chain

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The following research project aims to facilitate the integration of different technologies of additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, into the Canadian aerospace value chain. As AM technologies recently arrived on the market like total game changers, their advantages and limitations still remain blurry and misunderstood. In order to stay competitive worldwide, all members of the Canadian aerospace industry must work together to master these technologies. When well integrated in the production processes, AM can offer an important competitive advantage. It allows enterprises to test and prototype faster/cheaper, to reduce time to commercialization, to customize more, to waste less resources, to lower logistics/transportation costs, to lower inventories, to reduce part weight and to manufacture products that were traditionally impossible to create. While a lot of collaboration is done between manufacturers and engineering universities, with this project, we are going one step further by proactively building a strategic integration plan for 3D printing manufacturers into the Canadian aerospace supply chain. The combination of Pratt & Whitney technical knowledge in AM with the expertise in supply chain management of HEC Montreal will undoubtedly create a strong partnership that will accelerate the development of the Canadian AM expertise and boost the national innovation potential. The research project is mainly composed of three tasks. The first task is to identify and characterize the aerospace logistics chain in terms cost drivers and leadtimes. Once the major financial and temporal obstacles identified, the necessary investments and developments will be determined in order to facilitate the implementation of additive manufacturing in the enterprises where it will be most profitable. From there, we will identify the profile of the enterprises where AM will or will not be profitable and why. The whole analysis will be presented to the manufacturing enterprises as a business evaluation model calculating the feasibility and benefits of developing expertise in 3D printing.