The Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry operates at the cutting edge of engineering and manufacturing innovation, where Zero-defect standards are not merely a goal but a nonnegotiable requirement. Meeting these standards for complex products and industrial systems demands integrated and synchronized processes across all lifecycle phases, where production spans decades even after product decommissioning.

Persisting gaps in the industrial system lifecycle cause operational inefficiencies, budget overages, and program issues that extend beyond the factory floor. Considering the fact that the A&D supply chain is shared among Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the solution cannot be a single fix but a holistic, multi-faceted strategy that combines proven methodologies, a foundational digital infrastructure, and a cultural commitment to true, end-to-end collaboration suitable for all A&D manufacturers.

The ME4CoDev (Manufacturing Engineering for Co-Development) working group within the A&D PAG (Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group) is addressing the gaps. Since January 2026, 18 A&D experts from 13 leading companies have worked together to define an industrial system-specific roadmap of processes, methods, tools, and standards that addresses the problems and provides real solutions. Phase 1 work presented here is a common view of the problems. This work is intended as an inflection point for creating a strategic roadmap for operational excellence transformation, which will be addressed in future phases.