ILIdenT

Goals of the project

The elementary basis of every comprehensive digitalization attempt in the supply chain is the consistency of component identification along the entire supply chain. Due to the long service life of aircraft, this continuous identification not only takes place in the initial development and production, but is also of great importance in all subsequent supply chains of later product life phases (e.g. MRO and disposal). The Hamburg metropolitan region stands out from other locations due to the presence of key players in these product life cycle phases. The aviation industry differs from highly automated mass production due to the high proportion of manual production, low quantities and the significantly higher safety, quality and documentation requirements. Conventionally available industrial approaches can therefore not be transferred, or only insufficiently. Closing the gap in identification across the entire supply chain is therefore the overarching objective of the project. Technologically, this can be achieved on the one hand through the pragmatic further development of existing identification solutions. However, this will not be sufficiently possible due to the above restrictions, so that these solutions must be realized through the identification of natural characteristics. Particularly in the field of MRO, the aim is not to make a rough distinction between different products, but to classify similar or identical products that have only experienced slightly different wear or repairs.