Improving commonality implementation in the cockpits of commercial aircraft

Abstract

Product development is a major source of competitive advantage in the commercial aircraft business. Judiciously implementing commonality across a range of products yields important benefits in this area. Thus, measuring the quality of commonality implementation is extremely beneficial for aircraft manufacturers. This thesis analyses the concept of commonality and divides it into three constructs that can help understand all of its aspects: standardization, reusability and modularity. This work then presents a set of metrics measuring each of these aspects, from the point of view of the manufacturer and of the customer. The appropriateness of this set of metrics is then tested in a case study analyzing the efficiency of commonality implementation in the cockpit of two well-known commercial aircraft families: the Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 737 family. This thesis further describes what additional analysis should be performed to validate the set of metrics for broader applications. After documenting the efficiency of the set of metrics, this thesis analyses the current practices of commonality management in commercial aviation. It finally explores some of the limitations of the concept of commonality and sketches solutions to overcome them.