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Teamwork in Aerospace Background Material
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Glenn
Research
Center
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These pages describe an educational
activity
which has presented by Tom Benson of the NASA Glenn Research Center at
several schools and workshops. There are two main objectives to
the activity; one is to expose the students to the operation
of the aerospace industry, and the other is a team dynamics exercise.
The exercise usually begins with about a 5 minute overview of how aerospace works.
It is surprising how many students believe that the Air Force makes and flies
their own airplanes. Students are introduced to the aerospace industry with its reliance on
universities, business, and government labs for research, large manufacturing companies to
produce aircraft, and multiple users such as the military, the airlines, and NASA.
An overview slide of the industry is shown here:
The key point here is that there are three major parts to the aerospace industry; the research
groups like NASA who figure out how aerodynamics and propulsion works, the suppliers
like Boeing who make aircraft, and the users like the Air Force
who fly the aircraft. People interested
in careers in aerospace can join any part of this structure based on heir own talents and
interest.
(Interestingly, the Wrights brothers did all three parts themselves between 1900 and 1905!)
There is a defined process by which the users obtain aircraft from the suppliers called the
acquisition process:.
The user has some need for an aircraft and a mission that the aircraft is to perform.
The needs are determined by the user and the user defines his needs in a Request for
Proposal (RFP). The RFP is a document that spells out what the aircraft must do.
The user publishes this document and the various suppliers must make a determination
if they can design an aircraft which meets the needs of the user. In the best of
all worlds, the supplier already has an aircraft that is close and can modify an
existing aircraft. If not, the supplier proposes a new design to the user based on
results from the research groups.
The user normally receives more than one response to the RFP and must determine which design
can best meet the mission. The user often conducts a competition between rival
suppliers to determine the best aircraft and to lower the cost of the aircraft.
The winning design is awarded
a contract for production and the supplier produces some agreed upon number of
aircraft for the user.
Aerospace companies are normally very large.They may have subsidiary units, or even smaller
companies, spread around the country to perform a variety of functions.
The major
functions of any company are to design, manufacture, and test
aircraft. Different groups of people perform these functions and there must be some
co-ordination between the groups. This is one of the roles of management
within the company. The managers are also responsible for the operation of the company
and make the decisions about the response to RFP's from the users. Normally, the manager
is the contact point between the user and the company. Inside the company, the manager
has contact with the design, manufacture, and test groups. The designers also receive
input from the test group, so that they can modify and improve their ideas. The
designers provide input to the manufacturing section who then convert the ideas of
the designers into physical aircraft. The manufacturers make the airplanes. The
test group takes the aircraft from the manufacturers and determines if they meet the
needs of the users. They often provide input back to the designers. Most aerospace companies
have company test pilots who fly their aircraft before it is turned over to the user.
That's how the aerospace industry works. So let's try it out in our activity.
CLICK HERE to download your own power point presentation of
the entire activity.
Navigation:
- Standards
- Activity
- Beginner's Guide Home Page
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