Planning Composite Twins

Let's first understand a simple composite asset before we get into planning composite twins. We are all familiar with commercial aircraft. Companies such as Boeing and Airbus are major manufacturers of commercial aircraft. However, a commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 747-8 (see https://www.boeing.com/commercial/747/), which can seat up to 410 people and uses a GEnx-2B engine from General Electric Aviation, consists of as many as 6 million parts, manufactured by about 550 suppliers in as many as 30 countries. For more information, refer to https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2013-05-29-Boeing-Celebrates-Delivery-of-50th-747-8.

Figure 8.8 shows a simplified view of a composite asset such as a commercial aircraft. In turn, each major part of the aircraft consists of many sub-assemblies and individual parts. Figure 8.9 shows the jet engine of the aircraft. A single aircraft such as a Boeing 747-8 would have four jet engines on the wings at any time. Note...