The Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry is leading the way in digitizing operations such as tightening their supply chains and the use of 3D printing, according to a new survey by the global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“Aerospace, defence and security companies report they are already investing in digital operations and three quarters expect to have achieve and advanced level of digitization and integration in five years’ time, higher than any other sector we surveyed,” says the report, Industry 4.0: Building the digital enterprise: Aerospace, defence and security key findings. 
PwC says in its findings that industry digitization efforts are bringing suppliers into the network, are allowing companies to develop products and tools based on data and data analytics, and that 3D printing is being used in production, repair and maintenance.
Moreover, “Automation is also taking off with greater adoption of robots, automated guided vehicles and other technology such as autonomous smart riveting crawlers in aerostructure assembly,” the report says. “At the same time, innovations such as virtual and augmented reality, drones, flying robots and natural language computing offer both future productivity and product opportunities.”
For the A&D report, PwC surveyed 38 company executives on how they are building their digital products and integrating technology into their offerings. The report says that the A&D industry’s investments in digitization are set to accelerate.
PwC says 54 percent of respondents say they have reached advanced levels of digitization in product development and engineering and that the participants plan to invest 5 percent of annual revenue in digital operations solutions over the next five years.
These investments are expected to reduce operations costs by nearly 4 percent annually, the survey respondents say, and they expect to achieve revenue gains as well approaching 3 percent.