Digital Thread Drives Supply-Chain Resiliency in Aviation

Unlock real-time insight across design, production, maintenance, and logistics to cut cost, increase aircraft availability, and protect against future disruption.

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Ready to see how an integrated digital thread can fortify your aviation supply chain?

Download the Aviation Week “Ask the Expert” Q&A and explore practical steps to build resilience with Rockwell Automation.

Global aviation supply networks are still feeling the strain of pandemic aftershocks, geopolitical trade shifts, and escalating counterfeit risk. Jeffrey Miller, Aerospace Industry Leader at Rockwell Automation, explains how applying core digital-thread principles—complete, timely data connections across every node of the value chain—turns those pressures into opportunities for speed and savings. The approach synchronizes product, process, and supply-chain data so decisions happen when and where they create the most value. By adopting a unified namespace and industrial data-management architecture, aerospace organizations can finally break through siloed systems in inventory, factory execution, and warehouse management, enabling new levels of interoperability without overhauling existing assets.

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Key Takeaways:

  • Accelerate response to disruption – Better connected data improves visibility, combats counterfeit parts, and supports rapid source changes when tariffs or sovereign requirements shift.
  • Interoperability out of the box – A unified namespace links dissimilar supplier and enterprise systems, removing barriers to information sharing and collaboration.
  • AI-powered spare-parts planning – Systemwide insight into inventory, transfer orders, technician availability, and fleet schedules cuts cycle time and prevents costly aircraft-on-ground events.
  • Digital twins that pay off – Process-level twins optimize factory scheduling and boost throughput, delivering more capacity from every capital dollar invested.

Thought Leader

Jeff Miller
Principal & Global Practice Leader, Aerospace & Defense, High Tech Kalypso