SUNY Empire State College Associate Professor David Pritchard will present his most recent research, “Aerospace 4.0: Implications to the New Manufacturing Ecosystem,” which focuses on the factory of the future for the next generation of commercial aircraft, at Wings of the Future 2017 – 15th International Aviation Forum. In addition to his research, Pritchard teaches Business, Management and Economics, mentors students and leads the business leadership program in western New York state.

“Commercial aircraft manufacturing is undergoing a business revolution on par with the creation of Ford’s auto assembly line during the 1920s and the arrival of desktop computers in the early ‘80s,” said Pritchard. “The traditional ‘monument’ style of production, and its associated equipment and tooling, is going the way of the dinosaur. Robotics and 3D printing of aircraft components will supplant traditional manufacturing processes and, equally as important, significant new investment of capital will be required for these intensive new disruptive technologies. The impact on the world economy and its implications for education, training and on people’s jobs and careers are enormous.”

According to Pritchard, manufacturing processes of the next generation of aircraft – to be produced in the mid-2020s – will include advanced robotic applications, including collaborative robots (COBOTS), industrial robots on automated guide vehicles (MOBOTS), automated fiber placement, additive manufacturing, thermoplastic airframe structures and factory digitalization.

An aviation researcher who focuses on the commercial aircraft industry, Pritchard was invited by Russia-based ATO Events, the forum’s organizers, and the event will take place Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 1-2, in Moscow.

ATO Events is Russia’s largest organizer of professional events for air transport, and other sectors of transport infrastructure, as well as financial communications and investor relations.

About David Pritchard

Pritchard earned his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo. His dissertation title was, “Global Decentralization of Commercial Aircraft Production: Implications to the U.S. Based Manufacturing Activity.”

His research in the commercial aircraft industry focuses on the global supply network and has been published in leading academic journals.

Pritchard has been published in aviation trade journals, such as Flight Global and Aviation Week, and cited extensively in leading publications, including The Economist, Financial Times, Newsweek and Business Week.

Pritchard has more than 25 years of aerospace experience in the areas of international business, finance and management. During his career, Pritchard has been involved with seven aircraft launches, managed international offsets programs and completed foreign financing transactions. He has expertise in aerospace marketing and product launch in Europe, Russia/CIS and Asia, including China.

Pritchard’s research greatly benefits approaches to teaching nontraditional students how they need to develop new business models that require higher-level employee skill sets, because automation will transform sectors beyond manufacturing like food service, health care, retailing, insurance and finance.