Aircraft design

Sector: Private

Industry: Aerospace

Domain: Aircraft

Situation

Organization. A team of designers is tasked to design a series aircraft. The team consists of senior designers and junior designers. When confronted with design issues, junior designers tend to slow down if no senior designers are looking over their shoulders or sparring with them.

Environmental factors. Competition with other aircraft manufacturers.

Issues. Less access to the knowledge of senior designers leads to more time and effort to resolve a design issue.

Ambition

Goal. Increase performance.

Objective. Increase access to know-how to design a series aircraft.

Benefits. Shorter design lead time.

Identify

Critical capabilities to reduce the time needed to design a series aircraft:

• (Deliver a design service)
  • Design a new aircraft in an existing series [tacit].
  • Retrieve the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series [implicit].
  • Reuse the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series [implicit].
  • Revise the design rationale of aircraft [implicit].
  • Retain the design rationale of aircraft [implicit].

Compare

Contributions of critical capabilities:

• Organizational strategy:
  • Design a new aircraft in an existing series.
  • Retrieve the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
  • Reuse the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
  • Revise the design rationale of aircraft.
  • Retain the design rationale of aircraft.

Appraise

Presence of critical capabilities in the design team:

• Group presence:
  • Retrieve the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
  • Reuse the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
  • Revise the design rationale of aircraft.
  • Retain the design rationale of aircraft.
• Organizational presence:
  • Design a new aircraft in an existing series.

Refine

Critical capabilities: no intervention needed.

Unite

Refined capabilities: no intervention needed.

Secure

Unique capabilities:

• System. Elicit and include as instructions in the standard operating procedure:
  • (Deliver a design service)
    • Retrieve the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
    • Reuse the design rationale of another aircraft in the same series.
    • Revise the design rationale of aircraft.
    • Retain the design rationale of aircraft.
• Skills. Train junior designers in executing the standard operating procedure.