An Analysis of Design for Manufacturing Requirements for Managing Aerospace Manufacturing Knowledge

In the manufacturing lifecycle of aerospace products, large amounts of data are generated throughout the activities involved. Much of this data contains useful knowledge for engineers to improve various aspects of Design for Manufacturing (DFM) of new or existing products that may help reduce defects in future manufacturing activities. An investigation is carried out at a large UK based manufacturer of aerospace products that aims to introduce an improved approach that supports design engineering activities to make use of the 'data' generated to drive the number of re-occurring defects down. This paper particularly focuses on analysing the requirements for introducing a solution identified from questionnaires, observations and stakeholder reviews and proposes a framework of the components to enable its implementation. The research discussed the requirements and concludes the main findings toward implementing a fully integrated solution at the collaborating company in order to improve data usefulness and effectiveness.