Aerospace industry and SMEs approach in the Tokai area

The Aerospace Industry shows the highest degree of integration of advanced parts and materials among manufacturing industries. It needs sophisticated and precise processing and advanced assembly technology. High reliability, high precision and super lightweight materials and techniques such as CFRP are requested for parts and materials. A change in the climate in which the aerospace industry operates has resulted in responses to environmental issues such as high energy efficiency, low acoustic noise and managing the burden of price increases of natural resources and the development of new production systems. Thus the structure of the aerospace industry has shifted from demand-sector to private-sector. Japanese major aircraft industries are located in the Tokai region, along with the industries that have developed there to support them. The Tokai is a major industrial agglomeration area in Japan. To further develop the aerospace industry in this region, it is absolutely necessary to encourage competition by welcoming new entities, and to enhance the infrastructure of supporting Industries. Extremely high reliability and safety are required in aerospace manufacturing. The objective of this paper is to find a way for SMEs to participate in the aerospace industry based on the challenge of aerospace industry and regional efforts.