Browsing by Author "Brintrup, Alexandra"

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    Analysing the evolution of aerospace ecosystem development
    (PLOS (Public Library of Science), 2020-04-28) Jose Jr., Luna A.; Brintrup, Alexandra; Salonitis, Konstantinos
    Aerospace manufacturing industry is predicted to continue growing. Rising demand is triggering the current global aerospace ecosystem to evolve and adapt to challenges never faced before. New players into the aerospace manufacturing industry and the development of new ecosystems are evidencing its evolution. Understanding how the aerospace ecosystem has evolved is thus essential to prepare optimal conditions to nurture its growth. Recent studies have successfully combined economics and network science methods to map, analyse and predict the evolution of industrial ecosystems. In comparison to previous studies which apply network science-based methodologies to macro-economic research, this paper uses these methods to analyse the evolution of a particular industrial ecosystem, namely the aerospace sector. In particular, we develop bipartite country-product networks based on trade data over 25 years, to identify patterns and similarities in the evolution of developed aerospace manufacturing countries ecosystems. The analysis is elaborated at a macroscopic (network) and microscopic (nodes) levels. Motivated by studies in ecological networks, we use nestedness analysis to find patterns depicting the distribution and evolution of exported products across ecosystems. Our analysis reveals that developed ecosystems tend to become more analogous, as countries lean towards having a revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in the same group of products. Countries also tend to become more nested in their aerospace product space as they start developing a higher RCA. It is revealed that although countries develop an advantage on unique products, they also tend to increase competition with each other. Further analysis shows that manufactured products have a stronger correlation to an aerospace ecosystem than primary products; and in particular, the automotive sector shows the highest correlation with positive aerospace sector evolution. Competition between countries with well-developed aerospace ecosystems tends to centre on automotive parts, general industrial machinery, power generating machinery and equipment, and chemical materials and products.
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    Analysis of the evolution of aerospace manufacturing ecosystems
    (Cranfield University, 2020-06) Luna Andrade, Jose Junior; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Brintrup, Alexandra
    The aerospace manufacturing industry is predicted to continue growing. Understanding its evolution is thus essential to prepare optimal conditions to nurture its growth. This research aims to help the growth of emerging aerospace ecosystems by identifying evolution patterns and categorising key enablers that have encouraged the growth of developed ones. The term aerospace ecosystem is used to embrace all the business activities and infrastructure that are related to the entire aerospace’s supply chain in a specific country. Inspired by studies that have successfully combined economics and network science, in this research, bipartite country-product networks are developed based on trade data over 25 years. The United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America, France, Germany, Canada and Brazil’s are first analysed as evidence suggests that their aerospace ecosystems are within the most developed in the world. Then, China and Mexico’s networks are analysed and compared with developed ones, as these countries have evidenced emergent aerospace ecosystems. Results reveal that developed ecosystems tend to become more analogous, as countries lean towards having a revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in the same group of products. Further analysis shows that manufactured products have a stronger correlation to an aerospace ecosystem than primary products; and in particular, the automotive sector shows the highest correlation with positive aerospace sector evolution. Key enablers related to the growth of the UK and Mexico’s aerospace ecosystems are identified and categorised using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) methodologies. Results evidence relevant differences in the categorisation of key enablers among a developed and emergent aerospace ecosystems. On the other hand, it was identified that geopolitical factors and the automotive ecosystem are underpinning enablers for both aerospace ecosystem’s evolution. The final aim is that results of this research could be implemented on emerging aerospace ecosystems by emulating the patterns and key enablers that have characterised the evolution of developed aerospace ecosystems.
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    Civil aircraft engine operation life resilient monitoring via usage trajectory mapping on the reliability contour
    (Elsevier, 2022-11-04) Zhou, Hang; Farsi, Maryam; Harrison, Andrew; Parlikad, Ajith Kumar; Brintrup, Alexandra
    The civil aircraft engine business is complex in operation. Being an asset-heavy business operating highly complex engineering systems, the optimized fleet life-cycle management is essential yet challenging. The aviation systems are known for critical operation conditions, high-standard reliability demands, and high cost in both asset value and through-life maintenance services. Civil aircraft engines typically require 3 to 4 highly costly overhauls through service life to maintain performance and the time-on-wing (TOW) requirements of the airline operators. Multiple levels of maintenance activities need accurate and long-term planning for engine fleets coordinating manufacturing, transportation, supply chains and system performance, based on the service life of the engines. The life of assets in the aviation industry is measured uniquely by two scales — the flying hour (FH) and the flying cycle (FC). This paper proposed to evaluate the aviation systems’ service life combining both FH and FC, and the reliability of the systems be dynamically quantified via the records and future plans of the flight profiles. The long-term planning of the most significant shop visit (SV) overhauls is therefore optimized by maximizing the fleet TOW availability, considering the business model of ‘charge customers by the flying time’ in the civil aircraft engine business.
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    Key enablers for the evolution of aerospace ecosystems
    (Institute of Aeronautics and Space, 2021-06-16) Luna-Andrade, José; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Brintrup, Alexandra
    The aerospace industry is experiencing an unprecedented scenario. The air travel drifted from years of constant growth and positive expectations to a place where the uncertainty is the most predominant distinctive. Consequently, the aerospace ecosystem needs to adapt to cope with challenges never faced before. Understanding the evolution of the aerospace ecosystem is thus essential to foster its progression. This research aims at the identification and categorisation of key enablers that have been linked to the growth of aerospace ecosystems. To this extent, key enablers are first identified and then categorised using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) methodologies. An analysis is elaborated for a developed aerospace ecosystem, the United Kingdom, and an emergent aerospace ecosystem, Mexico. Results evidence a contrasting categorisation of key enablers among both ecosystems. On the other hand, the automotive ecosystem and geopolitical factors are considered as underpinning enablers for both aerospace ecosystems evolution.
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    Resilence of complex supply networks
    (2017-05) Ledwoch, Anna; Brintrup, Alexandra; Tiwari, Ashutosh; Mehnen, Jorn
    During recent decades supply chains have grown, and became increasingly interconnected due to globalisation and outsourcing. Empirical and theoretical studies now characterise supply chains as complex networks rather than the hierarchical, linear chain structures often theorised in classical literature. Increased topological complexity resulted in an increased exposure to risk, however existing supply chain risk management methodologies are designed based on the linear structure assumption rather than interdependent network structures. There is a growing need to better understand the complexities of supply networks, and how to identify, measure and mitigate risks more efficiently. The aim of this thesis is to identify how supply network topology influences resilience. More specifically, how applying well-established supply chain risk management strategies can decrease disruption impact in different supply network topologies. The influence of supply network topology on resilience is captured using a dynamic agent-based model based on empirical and theoretical supply network structures, without a single entity controlling the whole system where each supplier is an independent decision-maker. These suppliers are then disrupted using various disruption scenarios. Suppliers in the network then apply inventory mitigation and contingent rerouting to decrease impact of disruptions on the rest of the network. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first time the impact of random disruptions and its reduction through risk management strategies in different supply network topologies have been assessed in a fully dynamic, interconnected environment. The main lessons from this work are as follows: It has been observed that the supply network topology plays a crucial role in reducing impact of disruptions. Some supply network topologies are more resilient to random disruptions as they better fulfil customer demand under perturbations. Under random disruptions, inventory mitigation is a well-performing shock absorption mechanism. Contingent rerouting, on the other hand, is a strategy that needs specific conditions to work well. Firstly, the strategy must be applied by companies in supply topologies where the majority of supply chain members have alternative suppliers. Secondly, contingent rerouting is only efficient in cases when the reaction time to supplier’s disruption is shorter than the duration of the disruption. It has also been observed that the topological position of the individual company who applies specific risk management strategy heavily impacts costs and fill-rates of the overall system. This property is moderated by other variables such as disruption duration, disruption frequency and the chosen risk management strategy. An additional, important lesson here is that, choosing the supplier that suffered the most from disruptions or have specific topological position in a network to apply a risk management strategy might not always decrease the costs incurred by the whole system. In contrast, it might increase it if not applied appropriately. This thesis underpins the significance of topology in supply network resilience. The results from this work are foundational to the claim that it is possible to design an extended supply network that will be able reduce the impact of certain disruption types. However, the design must consider topological properties as well as moderating variables.
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    The influence of neighbours’ supply network structure on firm’s environmental, social and governance controversies
    (Taylor and Francis, 2024-12-31) Qiu, Jilin; Alinaghian, Leila; Brintrup, Alexandra
    This study investigates how the structural characteristics of a firm's supply network and its neighbouring firms affect their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies. A secondary dataset comprising 18,943 firms and 103,632 contractual links from the global automotive industry was employed to test the hypotheses. Publicly available ESG controversies data for 268 firms were gathered from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. The results indicated a negative relationship between the interconnectedness of neighbours’ networks and their ESG controversies. The results further revealed a positive association between the centrality of a firm’s neighbours and their ESG controversies. Furthermore, the study highlighted that a firm occupying a bridging position positively moderates the relationship between neighbours’ interconnectedness and ESG controversies. Drawing on a real-world large-scale supply network, our study extends the emerging debate on the criticality of broader supply networks in firms’ sustainability by investigating the role of neighbours’ structural properties in firms’ ESG controversies.
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    Using network science to disentangle supply networks: a case study in aerospace industry
    (Cranfield University, 2014-07) Wang, Yu; Brintrup, Alexandra; Tiwari, Ashutosh
    Supply chains in the aerospace sector are becoming more complex than ever before, frequently causing delays on the production process. Complexity gave rise to the term “supply networks”, changing the way we view supply chains from a structural point of view. Structural properties are important to investigate as they help define robustness and efficiency of systems. Although complexity in structure is suspected by previous researchers who studied these networks, empirical data to characterise what complexity means, and how it effects properties of networks has been largely absent from literature. If empirical data is available, network science can be used to understand structural properties of such complex supply networks. Network science is a suitable Mathematical tool for analysing the complex relationships and collaborations in the network and summarizing the properties of network from a fundamental, structural perspective. In this report, the author will apply network science to analyse the structure of the Airbus supply network. Due to the lack of aerospace supply chain data, firstly an empirical database is built. Analysis then focuses on the real structure of Airbus supply network and identification of key firms or communities under two scenarios: a non-weighted network in which the value of link is either 1 or 0, and a weighted network in which the value of link presents the strength of relationships among firms. While the weighted network indicates more informed features of the supply network structure by considering the weight of relationships, the non-weighted network can help us understand fundamental patterns that determine the structure of the connections in the network. The analysis indicates the Airbus supply network carries a power law distribution, which means most resources are dominated by few firms, and the network is robust to random firm failure but vulnerable to hub failure. The network contains communities with strong relationships between them.These communities do not only belong to the same industry and same region but have emerged as the result of an interaction between the two effects. Some key firms in the network own significant power of control the supply chain and fiancial resources, occupying key positions that bridge communities in the network.The study presents key structural features of a large scale network using empirical data and act as a case example for using network science based analysis in supply chains.