FIA2024 REVISITED: Aziz Tahiri of Hexagon on how it can help companies ramp up their AAM manufacturing efforts

The UK aims to launch autonomous air taxi demonstration flights by 2030, but according to Hexagon, eVTOL aircraft need better workflow automation, AI/ML tech, collaboration tools and simulations to tackle the massive hurdle of safety and certification.

Hexagon’s technology touches 90 per cent of all planes in the air today. Its expertise spans the entire aviation lifecycle, from R&D through development, manufacturing and MRO.

Some of the world’s largest manufacturers, including Airbus and Safran, are already utilising Hexagon’s virtual assembly and digital twin technologies to future-proof the way they design, make, test and inspect their aircraft. 

In another of our in-depth interviews from last month’s Farnborough Airshow, eVTOL Insights sat down with Aziz Tahiri, Hexagon’s Global VP Aerospace & Defence, during the show to talk more about its capabilities for the Advanced Air Mobility market.

Jason Pritchard, eVTOL Insights’ Executive Editor, asks the questions.

Aziz, it’s great to speak with you again. Hexagon has got a big presence here, what are you hoping to get from the airshow and from an Advanced Air Mobility perspective, can you share more about the company’s capabilities in this market?

Aziz Tahiri: “Aerospace is a key industry for us. We’re very happy to be here with a double size booth this year showing the latest of what we have regarding the production ramp up. We know the demand is huge and there is a need for manufacturing more aircraft with less people but with more data. So, the question is: how can we help manufacturers to really scale up their manufacturing rates, with the same level of safety or quality?

“And in terms of quality, we are very well positioned with our quality control equipment, but also all the quality data that we output in our software.”

In the Advanced Air Mobility market, a lot of the aircraft are getting close to being certified but manufacturing is so important too. Are you able to share a little bit on the importance of post-day-one operations, as many companies are starting to plan for mass production?

AT: “I would say that today the challenge is really to output the aircraft. Which means basically, you used to have dozens of quality inspectors running around the factory, trying to take notes on paper or Excel sheets. What we’ve done [at Hexagon] and what we’re showcasing is automated quality inspection capabilities. We always had these non-contact laser scanning capabilities, which is amazing on its own, but we’re now putting it on a robot and having all the software and user interface to allow quality inspectors to manage their tasks in record times. Working 24 hours in our automated inspection cells is really key.”

Can you share more about the products Hexagon is working on and how they can be beneficial to companies working in Advanced Air Mobility? 

AT: “The obvious one for me, which is really behind more than 50 years of capabilities we’ve developed in engineering software and simulation, is structural simulation acoustics, or what we call multi-physics simulation. 

“Having a very complete and accurate model of an air taxi which the company is developing is key because it allows them to predict performance issues without having to spend millions on prototyping and re-prototyping.”

A lot of people are asking ‘when is Advanced Air Mobility going to happen? Is it two years or more like the start of the next decade’. How would you assess the current landscape in the market when it comes to the manufacturing side?

AT: “The most pressing challenge I see as of today is really these new flying vehicles over our cities need to be very safe from a societal acceptance point of view. Regulation is another major road blocker, but I tend to believe that regulation will happen; we know how to predict routes and manage flying vehicles in the air, so to be safe and having the certification element is really key for passengers to accept it. Also, to accept flying with or without a pilot.

“I would say that we need to allow companies to be very comfortable with their capabilities and the recovery scenarios of lending a vehicle because some issues happen without risking anything. Neither for the passenger, nor for the people in the streets. I would say the timeline is tricky, because putting all these aircraft in the air may also add congestion. There is a trade-off that needs to happen, and we need to balance all these things.

“These vehicles will not be easy, but we know how to manufacture flying vehicles and inspect them. We just need to make sure it also makes economic viability; maintaining the business case of Urban Air Mobility, without compromising at all on safety.”

We talked a bit on our recent podcast about simulation modelling. Are you able to share a little bit more about the benefits of this and how Hexagon can help companies which are going down this route?

AT: “This is where we have a unique positioning and value proposition. On one side, we talked about how we can produce very accurate models and help reuse engineering costs and time. On the other side, I said it’s all about quality and safety. 

“Quality and safety measurements and data can now also be integrated within the modelling and the engineering, to get ready for manufacturing, to correct and reduce the gaps between these two worlds: this perfect CAD nominal digital world, and the real world of design and engineering – the one that needs to happen on the shop floor to make the parts. 

“This is what we are actually offering to our customers while they’re engineering their new flying vehicles. They can see what is manufacturable and what is not: What kind of resources need to be prepared? What kind of engineers needs to be trained? Which equipment will be used? And really simulate all the manufacturing process ahead of time. So, simulating the vehicle and simulating the factory and processes that need to be deployed.

“And once they’re being deployed, using our metrology and inspection capabilities to measure the reality of that theoretical model. And feedback loops that the engineering team can use to fine-tune that and make sure there is no gap between a virtual model and the real air taxi being manufactured.”

And what might the next couple of years have in store for Hexagon?

AT: “What our customers are asking us for is allowing their engineers to collaborate more. So, one key element of what we’re developing is you just bring more collaborative, engineering tools for engineers to share information back and forth, iterate faster in these engineering loops so that the flying vehicle can be certified with the right version of data and right level of confidence with safety.

“Collaboration is our first ongoing challenge, and our tools now need to be very collaborative. A second element is really about allowing the post-operational people on the shop floor to be more proactive and even predictive; trying to anticipate issues: “How do you collect and share data with the right stakeholders, so that it can really contribute to this in advance? 

So that’s the second major area we’re going to be working on – not only trying to measure things but collect the information and hand it over to the right people at the right time, so they can take extremely fast decisions and be proactive in their way of working.”

Any final thoughts?

AT: “We’re living in an amazing transformation in the industry. I am an aerospace engineer and 20 years ago, I was so happy to have graduated. But I have to say that in the last 10 years, I have seen some very conventional things happening, which are a bit archaic. But over the last two to three years, I have seen a complete revival. COVID-19 was going to kill the industry, but it probably revived us.

“What I see today is a lot of innovation, new projects and new programs. We have several demos here on our booth, where we’re showing how we’ve created research groups with our key Euro engine customers and aerostructure customers, where we were developing the new generation of engine and structures.

“I want to see how these innovation problems are going to turn into new programs, new flying vehicles and new modes of transportation for tomorrow, and we are part of it!”

The post FIA2024 REVISITED: Aziz Tahiri of Hexagon on how it can help companies ramp up their AAM manufacturing efforts appeared first on eVTOL Insights.

The post FIA2024 REVISITED: Aziz Tahiri of Hexagon on how it can help companies ramp up their AAM manufacturing efforts appeared first on eVTOL Insights.