To start the process, industrial IoT (IIoT) smart sensor circuitry in the engine’s nozzle triggers the aircraft’s autonomous maintenance system, which then messages the airline’s global maintenance system that the part will be needed when the plane lands in Boston, Shaw said.
The airline’s global procurement system is notified. It scours thousands of websites to identify Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-certified parts suppliers, negotiates the terms with the supplier’s AI-enabled order management system and executes a smart contract to procure the part. Once the procurement contract is authorized, a design file of the fuel nozzle part is downloaded to a 3D printer located near the Boston airport. The entire process — from the identification of a part defect to the design download to the 3D printer — takes less than four minutes and requires no human intervention, according to Shaw.
But the smart manufacturing technology and AI-enabled ecosystem is not finished. Automatic procurement processes identify and select technical engineers who are experienced with replacing this particular part and available to do the work. The technical engineer who installs the part then uses augmented reality (AR) goggles that display a 3D video of the entire replacement process directly on the part as the engineer installs it, ensuring the correct process is followed. Video in the goggles records the process for both the airline’s and FAA’s records, and once installed, the nozzle’s IIoT sensors automatically trigger a communications self-test with the aircraft’s maintenance system.
The airline’s procurement system is notified that the part has been installed, which updates the smart contract to pay the supplier for the part and the engineering service for the installation.
The new technologies will enable entirely new business models as well, along the lines of the Uber or Airbnb sharing economy, which are centered on access rather than ownership. General Electric is working on a “power by the hour” model, Shaw said, in which it maintains and operates jet engines rather than selling them outright to the airlines. After paying an initial cost, an airline pays GE by the hour as the engine operates.
“We’ll see autonomous supply chains, where parts and materials, products and services, information and money flow between and among organizations and people — all in accordance with the goals and objectives established by the human owners and managers of these systems and processes,” Shaw said.
“You have to change your business processes, and you may well have to change your fundamental business model to leverage your core competencies in better ways to add value in the changing business ecosystem that your organization will work with in the near future,” Shaw said.