Challenges in the Better, Faster, Cheaper Era of Aeronautical Design, Engineering and Manufacturing

“Better, Faster, Cheaper” (BFC) emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm for aerospace products. In this paper, we examine some of the underlying reasons for BFC and offer some thoughts to help frame the thinking and action of aerospace industry professionals in this new era. Examination of literature on industrial innovation indicates that aeronautical products have evolved to a “dominant design” and entered the “specific phase” of their product life cycle. Innovation in this phase centers on: incremental product improvement, especially for productivity and quality; process technology; technological innovations that offer superior substitutes. The first two of these are aligned with BFC objectives. The concepts of “value” and “best lifecycle value” are introduced as conceptual frameworks. Value is offered as a metric for BFC. Risk management is intimately tied to achieving value and needs to be integrated into aeronautical processes. The process technology area is addressed by considering “lean” practices for design, engineering and manufacturing. Illustrative results of process improvements from the seven-year Lean Aerospace Initiative research program at MIT indicate opportunities to achieve BFC. Concluding remarks offer some challenges to industry, government and academics in aeronautical design, engineering and manufacturing.