Case
Make it fly
Companies are successfully taking off in aerospace with umlaut.
Change as opportunity: from the automotive to aerospace industry
From combustion engines to e-mobility: the disruption in the automotive industry is causing upheaval amongst manufacturers and suppliers. Components required for the combustion engine are simply no longer required in electric vehicles. In many cases, manufacturers with highly specialised development and manufacturing expertise are losing orders due to radical restructuring. Companies that are affected by such disruptions are looking for additional business opportunities to offset declining revenues. The aerospace industry offers an attractive and long-term alternative to existing business. Due to rising cost pressure in the aerospace industry – opportunities arise for outside companies to position themselves as new players.
Forecast growth of aircraft fleets: The number will have doubled in just under 20 years.
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21,450 aircraft in 2018
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47,990 aircraft in 2037, of which 37,390 will be new
Aircraft production will grow by 1.6 percent annually until 2037
Source: umlaut, Aerospace Market Outlook 2019
Scenarios for market entry
Aircraft have an operational lifetime of over 20 years. The life cycle of technical components – at 40 years – is even longer. As global air traffic is continuing to grow, so does its environmental impact, which is why technical innovation is intended to make the production and operation of new and existing aircraft models more efficient. The sector offers companies across a range of industries long-term prospects for establishing themselves in the aerospace market or expanding their existing product portfolio. In both cases, suppliers can develop new sales potential and secure their own future viability. In addition to line fitting, retrofitting or converting aircraft (maintenance, repair and overhaul, or MRO for short) represents an attractive business case. Therefore, it is also worthwhile for companies to strategically focus on and place product groups in this field.
Requirements of the aerospace market
Besides opportunities, entering the aerospace industry also entails numerous challenges. Existing legal regulations, high safety standards and national- and customer-specific requirements of the relevant market result in complex product specifications. For example, every part in an aircraft must be proven to be fireproof – from the stickers on lavatories to the paint on aircraft doors. Besides production, documentation is also more stringent in order to guarantee the traceability of components or products throughout their lifecycle. Companies developing and producing aerospace products and appliances thus require special certification and approvals together with corresponding manufacturing capabilities. Accordingly, the industry OEMs place high requirements on their suppliers in order to guarantee the safety of their products.
Successful market entry into aerospace
The challenges for entering the aviation industry are complex – ranging from lack of access to market players through to limited experience with aerospace products. However, with the support of umlaut, interested companies can overcome these barriers and enter the market in a prepared manner. umlaut works within the entire aerospace value chain and has been collaborating with all major OEMs and suppliers for more than 20 years. From the very start, the “make it fly” team provides support with an analysis of the market and the existing product portfolio in order to identify potential business cases, strategy and concrete use cases. In addition to strategy consultants, the team includes engineers who not only understand the entire life cycle of complex aircraft components, but who can also support the development and market introduction of new products.
