Electric airplanes were once an invention that was only seen in dreams, but today’s guest is using out of the box tools to help to make them a reality.  In this episode, Craig Brown and Thom Singer welcome Bye Aerospace Director of Design Engineering Jim Forrester, who works to enable his team with the processes and tools they need to successfully design airplanes.  He shares the challenges and triumphs of designing electric airplanes and highlights the value of utilizing tools out of the box to help increase your company’s competitive advantage.

 

On today’s podcast, you will learn:

The value of using tools out of the box

• Relying heavily on a custom code can be a major detriment to a company. 
• The more code you have the more intractable you are with respect to upgrading from version to version. 
• Working out of the box can be an integration challenge but is more beneficial in the end because it doesn’t rely as heavily on a custom code. 
• Custom code comes with the danger of getting stuck in a less effective program. 

 

All about electric airplanes

• Battery advances have made electric airplanes possible like never before. 
• The trainer plays an essential role in successful flights. 
• Electric planes can now travel for up to three hours between chargings. 
• Simplicity is the marketing key to successfully producing cost effective electric airplanes. 

 

Redesigning an airplane

• Shifting the center of gravity in electric airplanes has increased stability in flight. 
• Eight people were able to redesign an entire airplane in less than one week. 
• CAD is so much more than a 3D drawing board — its capacity is so much more than that.
• Effective program management is essential in this constantly changing environment. 
• Anticipate and embrace change to use it as a competitive advantage.
• Differences between and functions of design BOMs, engineering BOMs, and manufacturing BOMs. 

 

Career advice

• Transitioning from a large scale to a smaller company starts with learning from other people. 
• Master your craft — become a subject matter expert in the tools and products you work with. 

 

Do you have an example of extraordinary efforts or innovation during these unprecedented times? We would love to hear your story and possibly interview you for an upcoming episode. Please reach out to us at www.DigitalEnterpriseSociety.org