Aerospace Company Taps MaxCell^® to Future-Proof Broadband Infrastructure

Does your network infrastructure set your operation up for success?

Businesses in every industry are looking for ways to work smarter and improve their margins. Increasing efficiency, reducing downtime, and improving Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) aren’t new strategies. But the current climate of economic uncertainty, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and skilled labor shortages has made the search for effective solutions more urgent.

Automation and Internet of Things (IoT) are key components to the future-proof solutions businesses need to work smarter. Many businesses are discovering that their current network infrastructure is inadequate. It cannot support the solutions of today, let alone the expansion necessary for future challenges.

Network infrastructure lays the foundation for automation and connected operations. It provides essential support for IoT-enabled solutions.

Problem:

A leader in the aerospace industry contacted MaxCell® to greatly increase broadband capacity and preserve space for future deployments for a facility they were planning.

Maintenance is a major contributor to aircraft operating costs. Most airlines spend more on airplane maintenance than on fuel. IoT technology and sensors on modern aircraft enable streamlined repairs and efficient maintenance. This is made possible due to the abundance of data that can be collected while planes are still in the air.

The customer wanted to build a facility consisting of eight new hangars, additional workspace, and offices. They required a design that would leverage state-of-the-art smart technology to harness vast amounts of data. The facility they envisioned depended on having the best network infrastructure in place.

Solution:

A team from MaxCell® met with the aerospace company during the initial planning stages of their project. Their goal was to help weigh in on the design network infrastructure that would meet current and future needs. The team focused on how utilizing their flexible fabric innerduct could maximize the capacity of conduits in network infrastructure while preserving space for future needs.

MaxCell ® is a preferred solution for airport infrastructure across the country. Its proven track record made it the obvious choice for the MRO facility project.

The project required a range of cable types. These included fiber and copper infrastructure for data, communications, low-voltage power, fire, security, and access control applications.

The team’s design recommendations featured a mixture of 2” and 3” MaxCell® to meet the project’s requirements. They collaborated with the aerospace manufacturer to define the project specifications. Once the project began, they provided field installation training to the contractor delivering a value-added solution.

Results:

Flexible fabric innerduct is a key component in the foundation that was laid for technological optimization at the aerospace company’s new facility. It has allowed the manufacturer to better track equipment performance, which has, in turn, led to significant reductions or complete eliminations of major cost inefficiencies.

By receiving valuable in-flight data, the ground crew at the new facility can troubleshoot and analyze the data to make the necessary preparations to address the issues as soon as the aircraft lands.

The shorter turnaround times and reduced costs achieved through air-to-ground connectivity wouldn’t be possible without the future-proof network infrastructure enabled through MaxCell® fabric innerduct.