Ahead of Aerospace Vehicles 2016: Lifecycle Challenges, we spoke to the keynote presenter, Paul Everitt, Chief Executive, ADS Group about his role in the industry, opportunities for cost-reduction and what attendees will take away from the event.
Paul Everitt, Chief Executive, ADS Group
Paul Everitt joined ADS at the beginning of February 2013 as Chief Executive ADS and Chairman of Farnborough International Ltd. He has more than 25 years’ experience of public policy and media campaigns in the manufacturing and transport sectors. He represents ADS members on the Aerospace Growth Partnership, the Defence Growth Partnership and the Security and Resilience Growth Partnership. He is well known across Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels as a champion of UK manufacturing and respected advocate of industry issues and concerns.
Paul was previously Chief Executive of SMMT, the national trade association for the UK motor industry and Director of Civil Air Transport and Communications at the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC). Paul began his career in furniture manufacturing, before moving into public policy research and economic analysis with the British Road Federation.
Q: What is your role and involvement in the aerospace industry?
Paul Everitt (PE): I am the chief executive of ADS, the UK’s national trade association for the aerospace, defence, space and security industries. ADS seeks to raise the profile of the UK aerospace industry, influence the business environment in which it operates, encourage increased investment in R&D and improve the competitiveness of the UK supply chain.
Q: What are you most looking forward to by attending and presenting at Aerospace Vehicles 2016: Lifecycle Challenges?
PE: The UK aerospace industrial strategy is helping to secure growth and new opportunities for businesses across the country. There are a number of important initiatives helping to encourage more investment in R&D and innovation, increase the rate of productivity improvement and build the pipeline of talent the UK industry needs to meet current and future customer demand.
I am looking forward to hearing more about some of the successful programmes helping to shape the future of our industry and understanding more about technical challenges we face in meeting safety and environmental objectives.
Q: What is the biggest factor to consider in the decision-making processes across the aerospace lifecycle?
PE: In an increasingly competitive global market airlines and their customers are very cost conscious. The margins available throughout the lifecycle of an aircraft are under pressure and there is a requirement for successful aerospace businesses to consistently produce more with less.
Q: Where do you think the main opportunity is for cost reduction in the aerospace lifecycle?
PE: The demand for sustained productivity improvement requires contributions from across the aerospace supply chain and from all aspects of activity. We are increasingly seeing the economics of manufacture playing a greater role in the design and development process and the industry is embracing digitalisation and 3D printing to reduce costs and eliminate waste.
Want to know more?
Paul Everitt will be speaking at Aerospace Vehicles 2016: Lifecycle Challenges. This is a must-attend event for those involved in aerospace engineering to hear from the key leaders in the industry about the latest designs and strategies for reducing costs across the lifecycle.
Hear from leaders in aerospace engineering including Airbus, Rolls Royce, MoD and Cranfield University about how they are tackling key engineering challenges to maximise resources and reduce overall lifecycle costs.
For further information, please visit the Aerospace 2016: Lifecycle Challenges event page.