A Methodology of Evolving User Requirements to Launch ERP in Aircraft Industry Environment

Aircraft industry environment comprises of a highly advanced set of technologies, complex supply chain management systems, massive budgets and turnovers, wide ranging professionals involved in production or support roles for manufacturing, assembling or testing the aircraft components and assemblies. The production deadlines and sales targets are as critical as any other industry and the competition is global. Even then countries, organizations and entrepreneurs around the world are keen to invest or get involved in various sectors of this industry. An efficient organization would require a highly dynamic system to undertake the planning and execution of all activities in such environment as well as predict future requirements in a global competitive environment. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) since its inception has been providing solution to various industries under such complex environment, however the literature available for its applications in aerospace industry is quite limited. Therefore the organizations involved in various activities associated with aircraft manufacturing industry are either unable to launch ERP in their systems or fail during implementation phase because of no clear starting point. This research is focused on providing basic knowledge of developing user requirements for ERP requirements in aircraft industry environment. It would also provide the knowledge of systems and processes peculiar to aircraft industry to the ERP solution providers for optimizing their software for aerospace applications.