Success Through Customer Co-Development, Global Footprint and the Processes In-Line with the Customer

Abstract

At a first glance, comparing automotive and aviation industry is difficult since, for example, the number of car seats produced per day matches the number of aircraft seats produced per year. However, by investing some efforts to further analyze commonalities, many areas can be found where the industries can benefit from each other.

When it comes to operational processes and global footprints, the automotive industry is, and will most probably remain ahead, thus being a role model for the aviation industry. On the other hand, aviation always had a strong focus on light weight design which has gained more importance in the automotive industry in recent years.

The case study in this article describes how RECARO Aircraft Seating combined their proprietary knowledge from the aviation industry with knowledge transfer from the automotive industry to become a leading aviation supplier and a reliable partner to their airline customers and the OEMs.

In order to achieve this, RECARO has identified six success factors: product development philosophy and innovation, product architecture, project management, global supply chain, a holistic “lean” approach as well as an extended enterprise to cope with future challenges. The contribution of each of these factors is introduced in the case study.