All posts by bryannero

A greener Future for the aviation sector (flying-V)

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Image source: Google images

Electric and hybrid-electric propulsion is rapidly revolutionizing mobility technologies across industries, from automotive to marine and the aviation industry is no exception (Airbus, 2021).

According to the ICAO in its blog “Future of Aviation“, in 2017, airlines worldwide carried around 4.1 billion passengers. They transported 56 million tones of freight on 37 million commercial flights. Every day, airplanes transport over 10 million passengers and around USD 18 billion worth of goods.

This represents the significant economic impact of aviation on the world economy, since aviation represents 3.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide (2.7 trillion US dollars) and has created 65 million jobs globally, (ICAO, 2021).

However, all this transportation activities have a major impact in the environment, since its source of power is fossil fuel. This releases a considerably high amount of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, and as a consequence it increases global warming.

For this reason some companies have already started developing new technologies in order to create electric airplanes that can transport these goods in a more efficient and greener way. This is the case of the model Flying-V. A group of engineers have been working on this new model of electric commercial airplane, and their first test have been successful, here is a short video that shows this innovation.

This project have been developed in collaboration with three big companies (Airbus, TU Delft y KLM) that have adopted an open innovation business model to create this new amazing aircraft. Innovations like this one will definitely impact the logistics industry in very positive way.

The New Silk Road: Challenges and Opportunities

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Living in China was a life changing experience, there I learnt very interesting things, for example, the importance of commercial routes for China. The Silk Road was and is a network of trade routes connecting the East and the West, (Here is more info if you want to know more, The Silk Road Book by Valerie Hansen).

The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, Japan, Korea, India, some African countries, some middle east countries and Europe. And now, it is said that the new Silk Road will have an impact in the economy and political structures across borders in these commercial routes.

Challenges

New Strategic alliances must be established, this is why having key partners in different countries will help companies maximize its opportunities.

The role of politicians will be extremely important, since clear policies will ensure a fair and transparent international trade.

Climate change is a major challenge that logistics companies have to face in the upcoming decades. New sustainable ways of transportation are being studied, however there is still a lot of work to be done in this field.

Opportunities

Thomas Kowitzki (head of China Rail DHL) claims that with the new railway connections they are able to reach new markets, reduce the delivery time and also it will be easier for them to reach their climate protection aims since transport by train is much more climate friendly than other means of transportation like airplanes.

IoT (internet of things), 5G, Big data and many of these new technologies will play a key role in the development of this trade routes. Since this new inventions help to better manage the supply chain, reduce costs and facilitate transparency for both the companies and their clients.

The video below will give you a glimpse of the importance of the new Silk Road.

This is a very broad topic and here in this post, I just mentioned important but very general things to try to comprehend the opportunities and challenges of the new Silk Road.

If you want to know more I invite you to take a look a these videos and links:

IoT in Logistics “The Maersk Case Study”

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Last year in the course of Senior Management and information Technologies in the Master of Business, Product & Service Management at the UPV, we analyzed how Maersk was planning to innovate its business model (click here to see the case analysis) and why it was important to them offer the possibility to its customers to monitor its goods while being transported. Now we can see how they implemented the “IoT” to deliver a better service.

According to the article “How IoT can improve the logistic process” the internet of things (IoT) provides data, which describes objects “physical assets” for example a good to be transported and distributed worldwide. As a consequence, asset data can be available in real time and at low cost in a central location, enabling completely new use cases and business models.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Maersk has been the largest container shipping line and vessel operator in the world since 1996. There experience in this area of logistics is vast, this company is constantly innovating and integrating new technologies within their business in order to enhance its value proposition and make the customer experience better. For this reason Maersk has started implementing IoT into their supply chain management business model.

Maersk has teamed up with Microsoft by using its cloud computing services Azure. This platform allows Maersk to integrate several devices and get access to a high volume of data so it can better manage its services. Let’s take a close look at how IoT helps this company improve its business.

  • Visibility: Customers are provided with insights of their goods in real time, so they now what is happening at any time.
  • Conditions control: now the humidity and temperature can be controlled online.
  • IoT 380 000 devices: a vast quantity of devices can be synchronized to obtain valuable data and to operate flawlessly.
  • Security: IoT offers security for both the company and the customer.
  • Cloud based services: this makes easier for the customers to get data faster.
  • Co-creation: Maersk is able to detect and study better what its customers need, so it facilitates the co-creation of new products and services adjusted to tackle a particular issue.

The video below better explains how Maersk is disrupting this industry with the use of IoT integrated into its supply chain.

Here are some further lectures for you to read in case you are interested about this amazing subject.

Do Boeing manufactures its own engines?

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Photo by Manfred Irmer on Pexels.com

I always felt interested in figuring out how things are done. And when I saw these complex heavy machines that can take to the skies, I wondered how do they manage to build such a thing. Well, after a few hours of research, I realized that one company itself is not capable of manufacturing all the necessary parts and build an airplane their own.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

One of the most important parts of an aircraft is its engine, and yes Boeing alone does not manufacture its own engines. They have to rely on its suppliers to get the job done when talking about these components. Pratt & Whitney is one of Boeing’s main engines supplier and there are some other important providers within the supply chain like Tool Gauge, who produces some metal parts used in the engine.

But why does not Boeing manufactures its own engines? what is the main reason behind this?

Well, the main reason is because producing an engine is a highly complex and specialized job, therefore you need a lot of experience and high capacity to deliver a high quality product at an affordable cost, and at the right time. It seems that the aerospace supply chain is quite complex, here is an article that explains how this industry is changing due to emerging markets like China and Latin America, and how important its supply chain is to reduce costs and deliver a high quality service, see article.

And if Boeing wanted to start manufacturing its own engines, they would have to invest a lot of money in training its employees, hiring new people, acquiring new machinery, and all of the important tasks related to setting up an aircraft engine factory. In the video below you can see a further explanation on why companies like Boeing and Airbus keep relying on their suppliers.