The pursuit of the laggard

For a long time, the development of aeroengines in China has focused on the military field, while the development of commercial aeroengines is relatively backward. The manufacturing complexity of the engine represents the peak of the manufacturing industry. When it was rumoured that the US government intended to prohibit the provision of leap engines to COMAC 919 in 2020, Ge, as the developer of leap, argued that even if the engine structure was turned on, it was unlikely to be copied in China. Manufacturing difficulty is obvious.

The commercial development company, which is responsible for the development of commercial aircraft engines, is also facing other difficulties.

One is that the company has been established for a short time and its employees are very young. Many of them are newly graduated college students. Although many of them are doctors and masters from famous universities with high educational level, they lack experience in engine engineering research and development. How to quickly copy and transfer the knowledge of experienced engineers? How can passionate newcomers quickly become teachers of tigers and wolves? It tests the speed of knowledge transfer of an enterprise.

Another headache is that the engine pays most attention to data verification. If the engine is inseparable from lubricating oil during flight, the engine development process is also inseparable from the "lubrication" support of a large number of test data. Engine reliability is a key indicator. For example, GE's engine requires less than one aircraft crash per million flight hours. This probability is more difficult than winning 100 million yuan in a single lottery. To achieve this, we must rely on the accumulation of a large number of data over the years. The data records of foreign engines have been done quite well. No matter on which route, they are making data contributions to the engine every minute. As soon as Boeing and Airbus aircraft start, these engines begin to monitor the flight situation. The monitor is installed on the engine, which can quietly collect all kinds of flight data, collect data and download data every day. Thousands of data channels in each flight are collecting samples, gradually accumulating hundreds of millions of hours. For example, the best-selling engine model SaiFeng CFM56 has flown for nearly 300 million hours.

These real flight data will be regressed with the R & D data to come up with the reliability model and find out the uncertainty, otherwise the model is useless. For the commercial development company, these data are not available, because the engine under development is the first commercial turbofan engine with large bypass ratio independently developed in China. No flight data can be used for regression calculation, while military aircraft engine data is basically not applicable.

There is only one way to catch up with the laggards, that is, integrated R & D - establish a complete R & D system and take the integrated platform as the carrier. Digital transformation is the only catch-up lane. On the platform, the database is established through simulation, and the module development is accelerated through knowledge reuse.

The research and development of engine is a straight track for foreign countries. However, China is still in the stage of hurdle runway, and there are obstacles everywhere. There may be hurdles every 10 meters. If you only focus on speed and don't master various skills of hurdles, it's difficult to pull back the backward situation. Integrated R & D is the soul of the R & D system. This is achieved by the platform on which the Airbus A380 depends.

Integrated R & D is not a topic that can be selected, but a required answer.

Model and system platform, dual drive is required

Integrated R & D platform is to establish a set of integrated R & D environment for control design process. It requires that the task flow, tools, standards, specifications, data and associated engineering design database in the whole process should be completed on one platform, and should be integrated with the existing information system.

This means that when developing engine models, we need to develop a set of appropriate platform tools for ourselves at the same time, and this set of platform will get twice the result with half the effort in subsequent models. The two are contradictory. The model development requires fast speed, while the platform requires stable chassis. However, if the development of engine models does not rush forward with the system, it is equivalent to abandoning the accelerator and rushing to the back for the development of subsequent models, it will not be able to maintain high-speed impulse.

Due to the standardized operation and behavior guidelines, the integrated R & D platform explicitly stores many implicit knowledge, making personal knowledge become the collective energy of the enterprise. An engineer will have his own way to solve problems. This is a mysterious weapon. But the knowledge in an engineer's mind is not the knowledge of an enterprise. Considering the flow of personnel, a lot of knowledge will be lost unknowingly, which makes the enterprise lose the greatest nutrient for sustainable growth.

More importantly, due to the change of engineering designers or the passage of time, it is difficult to restore the scene at that time, which will lead to many schemes that cannot be recalculated, or the same results cannot be obtained after recalculation. This is one of the disadvantages left by the information age. Informatization achieves document archiving, but basically exists in the form of files, which is easy to cause the deposition of static data. Digitization is to open the document and flow the data freely based on the modularization of the knowledge system. Digitization is not a simple archiving, but includes connected objects, processes and corresponding data. For example, there are many design schemes for an engine, how many schemes there are for the whole machine, how many schemes there are for the system under the whole machine, and how many subsystem schemes there are for the system. A clear architecture is needed to correlate and explain the relationship between the data clearly. Only in this way can the verified data become the condition for reuse in the future knowledge reuse. A wheel does not need to be completely defined. Engineers only need to add extra creative parts.

As a legal person, civil aircraft enterprises must show data evidence in the follow-up accident investigation, otherwise they will be liable for compensation, which means that the traceability of data is very important. Aircraft manufacturing requires that all data must be traceable and attaches great importance to the process. The non traceability of data is a disaster. People take it for granted that data is oil, but they don't realize that data is the most camouflaged oil in the world. It tries to escape people's capture of it in various forms. Changing from data to knowledge requires the capture of advanced hunters. R & D platform is such a hunter. It integrates professional software and design methods to achieve effective integrated packaging. On the one hand, through the standardization of design activities, solidify the design. On the other hand, due to the unified template encapsulation of the tool, the learning curve is greatly reduced and time is saved. Then, through the intellectualization of the design process, precipitate the process and method system, integrate personal knowledge and establish a data platform. Integrated R & D is that people gather firewood and the flame is high, resulting in the acceleration of collective knowledge.

Most importantly, it forms the advantage of data structure and realizes the complete set, multi scheme and traceability of data.

Digital transformation is to re recognize the value of data, and the knowledge system behind data is the essence of digital transformation. The platform, like the apron supporting the helicopter to start again, is always solid and reliable.

This is a two-wire drive. The development of models and the implementation of the R & D platform are carried out simultaneously by SDC. Construction and use are combined to build for use and promote construction. This is a self driven growth mechanism.

Start the flywheel from zero

In 2014, before deciding to build a unified and integrated R & D platform, Shangfa first comprehensively introduced the product system engineering development concept under the guidance of system engineering architecture, and comprehensively analyzed and combed from the documentary process and specification of the enterprise to the practical experience of the industry and benchmark. The integrated R & D platform is the integration of the whole business process, tools, methods and data. It needs to be compatible with the existing information system and have sufficient compatibility.

In this process, the system needs to be decomposed effectively. The research and development of engine is a huge system, which contains rich design process and data system. It cannot be solved by just one project implementation. Therefore, from the very beginning, commercial development has established an organization similar to the "R & D system headquarters", which is responsible for splitting the system problems from the top level and promoting them in sequence at different levels. Class a major needs to be done first, class B optimization needs to be pushed back, and so on. The supporting system requires a data problem management version.

In this process, it is necessary to make a data dictionary, similar to a large table, to define the concept definition between businesses, which is used to restrict the data exchange between main components such as turbine, compressor and nacelle. When the U.S. Department of defense developed the U.S. military architecture framework (DoDAF), it can be seen that building a data dictionary was the first work started.

In this regard, it is very important to introduce the external brain from the outside. As a company that has been providing integrated environment applications for aerospace for many years, cable provides solutions for multi scheme management, data interface, plug-in analysis and common design for the system. Suo Wei's view is to classify the knowledge system level by level according to the professional group of the engine, and then package the process, tools and data into a knowledge template corresponding to their respective tool software as far as possible. The business logic of the knowledge template is provided by the business departments of each professional department.

These knowledge templates enable designers who use the R & D platform to only pay attention to their own design ideas and key links. Like a helmsman, he only needs to operate the steering wheel, and the shaft drive, chain drive or structure under the steering wheel are encapsulated separately. Human knowledge will be captured in a modular way.

The idea of integrated R & D began to become clear. Commercial development decided to officially launch the "R & D" of the R & D platform. The leadership's determination has been determined and communicated to all. However, the specific professional departments are not sure what to do. Engineers do not know what to do with integrated R & D, nor how the tools used in daily scattered use will be integrated.

In addition to the overall design, the engine design mainly includes several main components and systems, such as compressor, combustion chamber, turbine, external and nacelle, air system, mechanical system, control system and so on. Considering that the task of model R & D is equally urgent, it is impossible to promote platform R & D on a large scale. Commercial development adopts the "pioneer first, point to area" approach, and the turbine department takes the lead. As the turbine can continue to be subdivided into pneumatic, structure, strength, heat transfer and other disciplines, and pneumatic is the first sharp knife breakthrough.

The pneumatic team of the turbine Department transferred business backbone to work together with the digital department to tackle key problems in the R & D integration environment. After the project scheme is reviewed and approved, after three months of hard work, the R & D environment of the turbine part has a first version, which can be used for function display. Although it is not practical, the prototype demonstration of turbine R & D environment allows the professional team to see the characteristics of the future platform, which is beginning to have a shocking effect. The demonstration of "flywheel effect" began to ferment in various departments.

SDC decided to strike while the iron was hot and began to develop the platform on a large scale. However, the old problem is on the table again. That is, many information projects, especially knowledge management projects, often end up with busy construction and few users. The phenomenon of two skins between information department and business department is the most common.

Cooperation is not easy, even with the same business demands. At that time, GE and Safran broke through the layers of resistance of the U.S. military and finally formed a joint venture. However, when they jointly developed CFM56 engine, they found the incompatibility of the organization. At first, when American and French engineers met, they disagreed with each other, and their different corporate cultures drew a gap between them. Finally, the leaders of both sides decided to directly lock the engineers of both sides in a room and let them quarrel, on the premise that the problem should be solved. Ten days later, American and French engineers ignited a friendly relationship with each other in the spark of technical collision, and had long forgotten their company identity. Joint team's key task, and finally make a hole.

The Commercial Development Corporation decided to show courage to promote team integration. Since June 2015, the technical force of various professional teams has been transferred on a large scale to bind with the supplier team to work together, including technical experts, process experts and it experts, forming an "iron triangle". The work of the design engineer was temporarily formatted, physically isolated from the original business department, and became a full-time knowledge template developer. When problem oriented engineers coexist, consensus is like the water level of a reservoir dam, getting higher and higher. Engineers in various departments become "knowledge interpreters". Business processes and data links are clearly explained and encapsulated in knowledge templates. This is a large-scale knowledge transfer, and knowledge has found a new territory on the platform.

The flood of knowledge with hundreds of people has been sorted, targeted and encapsulated repeatedly. After a hundred days of General Assembly war, the first version of the whole platform system has begun to take shape. Despite this version, it still cannot be directly applied online. But it has outlined a palace of the digital Kingdom, just like a blank room, which gives people a reassurance. Subsequently, the fine decoration started and the task of centralized development of knowledge template began.

This is a busy construction of the palace of knowledge. Its most impressive is the small step iteration. Time nodes are cut into different paragraphs. Due to proper top-level decomposition, people can see phased results in a very short time. It inspired more fighting spirit.

There is no way back to progress

Although the integrated R & D system is very important for knowledge system, quality assurance and data traceability, there has always been great resistance to its real use. Designers are generally reluctant to use. Everyone will be used to their own behavior, and no one is willing to use a platform constraint: because the platform often considers the common divisor, it is difficult to take into account the personality. The R & D platforms of many enterprises were lively at the beginning and called on everyone to use them, but in the end, they were like unattended fields, gradually growing grass and abandoned.

Hangfa group has a clear understanding of this. The development of China's engine can no longer follow the original ecological and free growth model. This mode will be very fast in one or two models or simple tasks. However, for the development of complex tasks and multiple models, the stamina will be seriously insufficient and can not meet the sustainable development needs of commercial development. The platform is forced to be normative, and only in this way can acceleration be generated; No matter how difficult the platform is, it must meet the difficulties.

Digital transformation is not only a declaration of war on the existing development speed, but also a challenge to organizational thinking. This must be driven by the will of the leader. If the leader does not make up his mind, the enterprise resources cannot be efficiently dispatched.

As the operation system of China Aviation Development Group, AEOs has become the belief of the group. AEOs is known as "a management revolution without retreat" in Hangfa group. Commercial development thoroughly implements this concept, resists organizational inertia with the acceleration of system engineering, and adheres to taking the platform as the core foundation of product R & D.

Commercial development has initiated organizational change, established the process and it department to unify the planning and implementation of the company's process and it, established the R & D system and Simulation Technology Department, integrated informatization and engineering design, coordinated the informatization requirements of engineering design, cooperated with the IT department to implement, built an integrated research and development platform, and continuously maintained the update of knowledge template on the platform and business development coordination.

After the completion of the platform, it began to be gradually introduced to various departments for use. Commercial development companies are aware that the use of the platform needs promotion strategies. Simple hard assignment will not produce good results. Commercial development retains the mechanism of "cultural vanguard", so that the ripples of platform culture that have been aroused continue to spread. The business personnel who first participated in the construction of the platform have a new identity when they return to their original posts after the development of the platform: platform counterpart. At ordinary times, various opinions on the use of the Department will be fed back to the permanent maintenance team of the platform; At the same time, it is also the interpreter for business personnel to use the R & D platform and the living dictionary of the platform. Developers, as well as seed players for promotion, are close to interpretation and communication.

The convenience of using the platform requires an optimization process. At the beginning, the convenience was poor and the automation ability was insufficient. Many people also rejected this design platform. The use of the platform has always been forced to take two steps, relax and take three steps back, and the back slope effect is obvious.

In order to prevent the downhill effect of the platform during the climbing period, SDF has formulated corresponding rules, that is, model design, which must take the integrated R & D platform as a unified use environment. Whether the previous tasks have been completed depends on the integrity of the reports submitted offline. Now, the demonstration of task delivery depends on the data integrity of the platform, not just the report.

This move has a far-reaching impact. It uses a forced way to make the thinking of knowledge workers take the platform as the support, and the R & D system becomes more and more standardized and robust.

For the integrated R & D of Shangfa engine, more than 200 process templates, more than 800 activity templates and more than 500 tool templates have been built around the engine component systems. Through the application of the integration platform, the design process is basically controllable, and the standardization of design activities, unification of tools, data structure, process knowledge and efficiency are realized. Due to the integrated packaging of professional software and design methods, the design operation steps and data processing time are reduced in some professional designs, the possibility of human error is reduced, and the design efficiency is greatly improved. For example, the turbine heat transfer data processing used to rely on manual interaction to complete the pre-processing and post-processing of model data, data import and export, and then prepare the report, which took about 3 days. At present, it can be completed in only 1 hour based on the platform, and the efficiency has been improved by nearly 24 times; The strength analysis of turbine blades used to take about 2 days, but now it takes only 15 minutes to complete. At present, more than 5000 design tasks have been completed on the platform. The knowledge accelerator of the platform is showing speed. Just like the pilot's simulation trainer, the skill growth curve of newcomers has accelerated significantly, and the R & D time is also shrinking.

Always on the road

Behind integrated R & D is a set of changes in organizational mode and knowledge transfer. There are also many pits in the middle, falling in and climbing out. From the experience of commercial development, the construction of R & D system and integrated R & D platform, the design and promotion methodology of system architecture are very important, but practice is more critical, eliminate perfectionism, practice constantly and iterate quickly. This means that only when the technology, system and organization are evolving synchronously, can a complete R & D platform be truly established.

However, the digital transformation is only the beginning. Behind integrated R & D, it actually means the improvement of a set of R & D system. This is a journey of continuous development and will not be completed. The next step is to further open up the digital channel between design and demand, as well as between design and manufacturing, which is a greater temptation. Realizing the full data management of the whole chain and life cycle of the engine is the real oil mine with data. There is no way back for digital transformation. Only with the support of the platform can we move forward all the way. Only with continuous change and innovation can we get closer and closer to success.