From proven platform to new requirement: Designing for what comes next
It’s not simply design capability that matters, but engineering experience that can follow the requirement through.
We’ve noticed a shift. A number of recent conversations with customers and suppliers have started with a straightforward requirement for design capability. But, reflecting what we saw and heard at Farnborough Air Show this year, those conversations are increasingly about something bigger. The need for speed, adaptability and the ability to modify proven technology to meet new and evolving requirements.
For large, complex programmes, that puts a different emphasis on design. The requirement may start with a modification, but the decisions made at that point need to work through manufacture, integration and certification.
Increasingly, it is not simply design capability that matters, but engineering experience that can follow the requirement through.
Modifying an existing platform brings a very different design challenge. Original drawings and OEM data may be incomplete or unavailable. New equipment has to integrate with structures designed for another purpose. Materials, manufacturing processes and supply chains may have changed. And, critically, the finished solution still has to be practical to manufacture, install, operate and certify.
It means good design has to start with the end in mind.
Designing something that can actually be made
A technically sound design isn’t necessarily a successful one. If it requires materials that are difficult to source, processes a manufacturer cannot readily accommodate or creates unnecessary complexity during installation, problems simply move further down the programme.
Designers therefore need to understand the realities of manufacture while decisions can still be influenced.
We have seen this first-hand on aircraft modification programmes. On one Pilatus PC-12 project, for example, Cascade developed the structural modification from initial concept through to a flight-ready modification kit. Manufacturers were involved before the design was finalised allowing detail changes to be made so components fitted more readily into their production processes and manufacturing bottlenecks could be avoided.
That dialogue continued throughout manufacture, enabling queries to be resolved quickly and helping maintain the delivery schedule.
Modification demands a different kind of thinking
The challenge becomes greater when the starting information isn’t complete.
On another PC-12 modification, the original solution proved unworkable and the OEM documentation required wasn’t immediately available. Rather than allowing the programme to stall, the team reverse engineered from the physical aircraft, developed the structural information needed and established an alternative design route.
The project demonstrated something particularly relevant to today’s environment. Modification engineering requires designers to understand not only what already exists, but what can realistically be changed.
That means balancing structural integrity, weight, available data, manufacturing and installation constraints, certification requirements and the ultimate operational need, often simultaneously.
Manufacturers understand their processes, designers understand the intent and engineering implications. Bringing those perspectives together creates opportunities to simplify production, control costs and resolve issues quickly.
A natural role for specialist engineering SMEs
This is also an area where specialist SMEs can bring particular value to larger programmes.
Modification work rarely follows an entirely predictable path. Requirements evolve, information gaps emerge and manufacturing questions inevitably arise. The ability to bring experienced engineers into a programme quickly, work alongside OEMs and manufacturers and make informed design decisions without losing sight of the end goal can help maintain momentum.
Cascade doesn’t manufacture components itself. But that is precisely why close collaboration with those who do is so important. Manufacturers understand their processes, designers understand the intent and engineering implications. Bringing those perspectives together early creates better opportunities to simplify production, control costs and resolve issues before they become expensive problems.
As the pressure to adapt existing platforms grows, designing for manufacture isn’t simply another stage in the engineering process.
It is a mindset. Understanding where the project ultimately needs to get to, then making design decisions from day one that provide the most dependable route there.
Further Reading:
- From Concept to Certification: Cascade Realisation Capability