This project was delivered in partnership with a global leader in the design and manufacture of aerospace jet engines. It also involved partners and suppliers of their supply chain

Supply chains in the aerospace industry involve many globally dispersed companies working closely together to deliver complex products and services which are sometimes referred to as their extended enterprise. The supply chain will normally be lengthy and involve large powerful customers such as governments, military organizations and major airlines working with large first and second tier companies. In turn those large first and second tier organisations must also work with small and medium sized specialised suppliers. All companies, big or small, and wherever they are located in the world need to be integrated, have a shared vision and strategy, and be able to share information readily. The purpose being to deliver complex product service systems.

The current challenges to achieve this are many but one that is currently prevailing is the quest for digitalization of product information and processes used to deliver product-service systems. Namely the adoption of internet-of-things technologies to provide model based definitions of products (MBD) and minimum digital standards (MDS) for systems interoperability.

MBD is defined as a computer based definition of product with associated manufacturing information. It is one of the major components required to meet the minimum digital standards (MDS) set by the aerospace jet engine design-and-make company for their extended enterprise.