Professor David Pritchard to Participate in China’s Civil Aircraft Industry International Forum 2017

An aviation researcher who focuses on the commercial aircraft industry, Pritchard will present his most recent research, “Aerospace 4.0: Implications to the new Manufacturing Ecosystem,” and moderate the follow-up panel discussion.

Pritchard’s research explores “The Factory of the Future” for the next generation of commercial aircraft.

Manufacturers of this next generation of aircraft could be adopting advanced robotic applications, including collaborative robots (COBOTS), industrial robots on automated guide vehicles (MOBOTS), additive manufacturing processes and factory digitalization.

"The research focuses on how automation technologies of machine learning and robotics will change the human activities in commercial aircraft production with the adaptation and adoption of digital technologies," said Pritchard. 

Hosted by the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics and co-organized by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China’s manufacturing and aircraft research and design institute, the forum takes place May 10-11, in Shanghai, China.

In addition to his research, Pritchard teaches Business, Management and Economics, mentors students  and leads the business leadership program in Western New York state.

The 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. 

About David Pritchard

Pritchard earn his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo. His dissertation title is “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.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system yearly, educates nearly 19,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 30  locations across the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and coursework on site, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

The college’s 78,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977. Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu