Page 5 - AAA JULY - SEPTEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

[ MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL ]

Finding the

Right Mix

certainly created jobs for people in the second
WITH THE DIGITAL MRO MARKET SET TO GROW industrial revolution. Computers also created
jobs in the so-called third industrial revolution.
SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE NEXT DECADE, THE I don’t think this version will be any different.”
INDUSTRY HAS TO ENSURE THAT THE HUMAN Josselin Bequet, co-founder of Donecle, an
ELEMENT IN MAINTENANCE IS GIVEN DUE aircraft inspection drone company, doesn’t
IMPORTANCE expect inspection drones to ever replace
human inspectors.
“We believe drones or other automated
Arun Sivasankaran
inspection equipment are decision-aiding
tools which complement human inspectors,”
Even as new technologies disrupt and reshape aerospace, from says Bequet. “We are essentially removing the
blockchain to machine learning to augmented reality (AR), drones tedious, dangerous and lengthy component
and additive manufacturing, the industry has to avoid falling into the of the inspection process to enable human
trap of assuming that technology can replace the human element. inspectors to focus on areas where they add
With Aerospace 4.0 a reality, there is a section of the industry value. Our image analysis software provides
that machines might take away jobs. While it is easy to assume a strong indications on what we think the drone
link between innovation and job losses, experts and data confirm has found on the aircraft, but in the short term,
that the introduction of new technology will actually result in the a human inspector’s experience is invaluable to
creation of jobs in new fields. confirm the software output.”
Deloitte recently interviewed about 1,600 executives from 19
countries as part of a research project on automation in aero- With Artificial intelligence becoming an inte-
space. “What our research points out is that there is tremendous gral part of aircraft maintenance activities,
opportunity associated with the digitization of enterprises and experts caution against leaning too heavily on
aerospace 4.0,” says David Williams, Principal at the consulting machines. AI should only be used as a tool to
firm. “Companies, however, aren’t sure how to take advantage of it.” assist human beings in making better decisions,
“I don’t believe that automation in aerospace will result in loss of says Rob High, chief technology officer, IBM
jobs,” says Williams. “I think it will be consistent with the other indus- Watson.
trial revolutions. “The first industrial revolution did not cause people
to lose jobs but created new opportunities for people. Electricity “Hybrid forecasting, with both people and

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