How one aerospace and defense supplier is tackling supply chain security and transparency through additive manufacturing, blockchain, and PLM.
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, 7 August 2018—CIMdata, Inc., the leading global PLM strategic consulting and research firm, has released a new commentary that describes how Moog Inc., a leading global supplier of integrated control actuation systems for civil and military aircraft, is revolutionizing the way it delivers its complex control systems to its customers by separating the digital from the physical in its supply chains. To achieve this, Moog has developed a revolutionary product delivery platform called VeriPart™. VeriPart integrates additive manufacturing (AM), blockchain, and product lifecycle management (PLM)—possibly for the first time ever.
VeriPart provides traceability of the history and provenance of each part’s design, manufacture, and use. Blockchain ensures that 3D printed parts and assemblies can be authenticated, that data transmittals won’t be hacked, and that transactions can be licensed to third parties. PLM plays a vital role in VeriPart by providing information at what Moog terms “point of use and time of need.”
Veripart’s use in the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is being demonstrated, evaluated, and adapted in in a research and development collaboration with ST Aerospace, a unit of Singapore Technologies, and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS). The first end-to-end Blockchain-enabled digital transaction in A&D was demonstrated by Moog in February 2018.
According to Mr. Peter Bilello, CIMdata’s President, “Moog’s pioneering physical-to-digital supply chain continues to be refined and enhanced. Managing supply chains and traceability requirements applies to a wide range of industries, not just A&D and organizations needing to bring their supply chains into the 21st century must take note of the on-going refinements and the evaluation of Veripart by NCMS.”
To learn more about this innovative approach, the complete commentary is available for download at www.CIMdata.com.
