engineer with the Airplane Systems team at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Our servers and methods are now bulletproof and have layers of redundancy built in to mitigate any occurrence of failure.” Boeing is applying this concept across the company. The Electrical Load Analysis Tool allows engineers to collaborate to create the tools they need to get their work done. It also lets them share their knowledge inside and outside Boeing and bring additional revenue back to the company, Boy said. Another profitable technology now being replicated is the Torque Multiplier. Used in aircraft manufacturing, this tool manager and Technical Fellow of the Geometry and Optimization group responsible for Design Explorer. As a result of their work, Vandenbrande and his team are among seven companywide teams that will receive Boeing Technical Replication Awards this month. The awards recognize inventions that are replicated across Boeing, allowing others in the company to reap their benefits. Along with Boeing’s Special Invention Awards, the Technical Replication Awards—both of which are issued annually—represent the company’s highest honor for innovation. Boeing’s position as a leader in technology and innovation is strengthened not solely by developing novel tools, processes and products but also by implementing these breakthroughs across the company, to help more teams run more effectively, according to John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer, and senior vice president of Engineering, Operations & Technology. “Our inventions and technological advancements enable Boeing to be a strong company,” Tracy said. “By internally replicating our achievements when appropriate, by making them available to our customers and by licensing them externally, we generate value and ensure our future.” The complex software developed by Vandenbrande and his team originally was derived from research funding and collaboration between Rice University in Houston and the Applied Math Group at Boeing Research & Technology. “Now, for a new airplane we can use this tool to explore the entire design space and choose the best design,” explained Vandenbrande, who also won a Technical Replication Award last year. The software is continuously upgraded to tackle larger problems. Another replicated invention being recognized this year, the Electrical Load Analysis Tool (eLAT), is used on all production and post-delivery commercial airplanes. It manages electrical load data from the initial design stage through to an airplane’s retirement. The load analysis team is extending the tool to Boeing defense and space products. In addition, it can be applied in multiple industries, said Ralph Boy, Associate Technical Fellow and eLAT’s creator. The tool, which promotes a “One Boeing” approach to formatting and analysis, emerged from challenges in the early 2000s, such as a loss of data on servers damaged by a Seattle-area earthquake, that prevented Boeing from using existing methods of conducting load analyses. Without completion of this analysis, Boeing couldn’t deliver airplanes to its customers. “Innovation grew from this challenge,” said Boy, a systems 30 Frontiers October 2014
Frontiers October 2014 Issue
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