CIOReview | | 19 DECEMBER 2022workforce, having them be the teachers and mentors. It's provided a kind of a unique opportunity to get the energy of people who are new to the aerospace world, combined with the experiences of our senior folks who enjoy being teachers. It's fun to watch; while it's been a challenge, it's also been rewarding to see the benefits.Which are a few technological trends influencing defense manufacturing today? What are some of the best practices businesses should adopt today to steer ahead of competitors?According to an Accenture report, 97 percent of defense manufacturers are ready to transform their business digitally. The new technological advancements influence the defense industry in additive manufacturing, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and more. We have seen a lot of closer integration of design and manufacturing through integrated engineering and business tools. It's a concept that was pioneered and matured through the automotive industry. But we have not been able to apply it now to defense. It requires some tailoring, and we do have a different set of challenges than the automotive industry has. Nonetheless, related and close enough, it allowed us to tailor our products to particular customer needs without repeating the entire product lifecycle every time. And our customers value the opportunity to reduce schedule cost risk.Firstly when we recruit, we try to find talent. It is not about finding people who are only competent and potentially subject matter experts, but folks who are willing to put in the effort to understand what they are doing and how it fits into the systems we deliver. We don't provide just a widget or a product; we provide systems. It is about finding people who can think systemically, act differently than maybe just subject matter experts. Secondly, we want our employees to participate in industry groups and share information with other companies about the latest technology innovations happening in the space. And I think recruiting the right talent and sharing information keeps us ahead of our rivals.Do you have any advice for industry veterans or budding entrepreneurs from the defense manufacturing space? Being an entrepreneur, I would say find something you are passionate about and always be humble enough to learn from your colleagues. And drive for something that's of value to your customers, listen to the market and listen to what people ask for. Frequently, we have great ideas, but we are not able to turn them into good business. Focus on the value of your idea to somebody else. So I would encourage my colleagues to be passionate, listen humbly, and deliver value to their customers.What do you think is the future of the defense manufacturing industry from a technology perspective?In the world of defense space--connectivity, intelligence, configurability, and security can be used by manufacturers to deliver Defense 4.0 strategy. The markets continue to mature when it comes to more autonomous, more electric, more connected systems; our customers and the problems they are trying to solve will demand that we utilize these technological advances in these areas. At Moog, we think it's not just about developing a model. It's not going to be merely software. There's a lot of hardware that comes with that and part of what we are preparing for as an aerospace manufacturing company. There's a pretty significant investment level needed both in skills and capital to architect, develop and deliver the aerospace industry 4.0 solutions within our factories. Before now, I think many of us have underestimated what it would take to transition our manufacturing capabilities to leverage all these new technologies and put them to good use. In the world of defense space-- connectivity, intelligence, configurability, and security can be used by manufacturers to deliver Defense 4.0 strategy
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