Page 12 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2018 Online Magazine

the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. we have been working closely with independent airframe MRO service
At the same time, we believe our suite interested airline customers and provider), we are also investing in
of nose-to-tail aircraft MRO solutions, conducting trials to create a virtual adjacent businesses/new growth
coupled with our strong engineering warehouse for cabin parts. This will areas that can add value to our MRO
capabilities and broad customer base help us and our clients move closer work and give us a competitive edge
would put us in a strong position to toward Supply Chain 4.0 whereby a though the ownership of intellectual
partake in the growing global MRO virtual warehouse can be developed properties.
spend. We continuously strengthen with 3D-printed just-in-time cabin For instance, we formed ST
this competitive edge by focusing on parts designed and certified by us. Aerospace Aircraft Seats, a joint
delivering with the high safety and To date, we have been granted EASA venture with Tenyru Holdings Co.
quality standards that our custom- certification for certain aircraft inte- Ltd and expanded our cabin interior
ers have come to expect of us. This rior parts, and are working towards products offering with proprietary
track record is part of the reason why similar certification with other author- aircraft seats designs. We are cur-
we many of our customers are return ities to expand our parts inventory rently refreshing the cabin interior
customers who enter into multi-year list based on customer requirements. and installing the seats for a launch
contracts with us. We have also been introducing customer, which is a regional airline.
more robotics into our operations By offering both cabin interior prod-
How successful has the as well to lower costs and increase ucts and modification services,
company been in incor- productivity. For instance, we have customers can engage us earlier
porating technological implemented a robotic arm to replace in their cabin reconfiguration plans
innovations? Can you elab- the task of manually polishing airfoil and benefit from more integrated
orate on the Smart MRO surface. This has led to a reduction and turnkey solutions; from design
concept and your efforts in of manpower time taken to polish one and certification, to implementation
going digital? set of airfoil from 2,800 minutes to and maintenance – all under one
just 1,000 minutes, which is a saving roof. This strategic move upstream
We have been investing in Smart of over 60%. will also allow us to benefit directly as
MRO initiatives on three broad fronts an OEM as the commercial aviation
– digitization & data analytics, addi- Do passenger-to-freighter industry continues to grow strongly
tive manufacturing and automation. aircraft conversions con- and as the airlines refresh their fleet
Going digital brings along with it a stitute a sizable part of cabin interior more frequently.
host of benefits. Other than improv- your business? Do you see
ing workflow and efficiency at the revenue from conversions What are some of the other
operational level, it will allow us to growing substantially in the growth areas that you have
better support airlines/operators next 10 years? identified?
when they have newer-generation
fly-by-wire aircraft or large-scale fleet With air cargo forecasted to grow Freighter conversion is definitely one
replacements. Secondly, given that at 4 percent CAGR over the next growth area that we are focusing on.
we support many different custom- twenty years, freighter conversion is We are also leveraging our engineer-
ers whose aircraft types overlap, we one growth area that we are focus- ing capabilities and expertise in UAVs
can use the data collected from all ing on. We have more than 400 to develop systems that help shape
the aircraft we service, analyze them conversions under our belt, which autonomous networks and future
and provide predictive maintenance makes us one of the world’s largest freighters. For example, we have
solutions. We have a dedicated data passenger-to-freighter aircraft con- developed an end-to-end operating
analytics team working on this. version houses. We have invested in Unmanned Aerial Systems called
On the digitization front, new passenger-to-freighter (PTF) DroNet which utilises an integrated
AeroBook3 is our solution to digitizing conversions programs such as the network of autonomous drones to
our processes. It is a mechanic-cen- A330 and AS320/A321, and we complete a range of tasks in an urban
tric platform that offers a full suite of expect we expect revenue of more environment. This versatile solution is
applications to assist in MRO work than S$400m per year to come from able to provide solutions for various
via mobile devices. We are currently the PTF business by 2022. applications such as and not limited
customizing our AeroBook3 system to security, inspections and delivery.
to address the specific requirements How important is it for an The DroNet solution, together with
of key airline customers, and fully independent MRO company other smart city solutions devel-
digitize our engine MRO facility in to diversity its services in oped by the other sectors within
Singapore. We expect to deploy this the current market? the ST Engineering Group, will help
system gradually to our global net- to engineer tomorrow’s smart cities
work of facilities over the next one While ST Engineering enjoys a strong by addressing challenges from road
year. leadership position in the industry congestion to physical and cyberse-
On the additive manufacturing front, (we are currently the world’s largest curity threats.

12 | September/October 2018 www.GBP.com.sg/AAA