Photo Gallery: Wichita's Digital Metamorphosis

Wichita’s transformation is evident in the numbers. Employment in transportation equipment in the Wichita area, which consists primarily of aviation employment, dropped from 44,721 in 2000 to 22,820 by the end of 2021, according to statistics from Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research. At the same time, manufacturing output has risen from $8.21 billion in 2001 to $8.52 billion in 2020 in constant, 2012 inflation-adjusted dollars, the latest figures available.

In June 2022, Deloitte Consulting opened a Wichita-based “Smart Factory,” with a goal to help manufacturers digitally transform their shop floors using a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, cloud and edge applications, robotics, vision solutions and other technologies.

The Smart Factory @ Wichita, as it is called, includes a fully functioning production line with robots to deliver supplies and take part in the production process, working next to employees on the line. The facility is a way for organizations to make Industry 4.0 a reality, officials there say.

Spirit AeroSystems has been working with Deloitte and other partners to help make the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution a reality, officials say. The challenge was to develop an interconnected production system linking engineering, resource planning, manufacturing execution, equipment and quality to “make it all work.” As a result, “we have real-time visibility on the status of every major piece of equipment in the production system,” says Scott Bishop, Spirit AeroSystems director of Next-Gen aircraft programs and advanced manufacturing strategy. It also has digitized the entire factory floor, relocated production of the Boeing 737 forward section to another part of the factory, added automation and created a Center of Excellence. Fewer moves on the production line and increased automation mean less work in progress, reduced labor hours, lower risk of rework and improved quality, Spirit officials say.

Last year, Spirit opened a Global Digital Logistics Center that consolidates thousands of parts from across the company's campus into one location to streamline delivery to the workers who need them. The center includes a 40-ft.-tall automated high-bay shuttle system, 9 acres of automated rack shelving and robotic cranes. It has the capacity to handle more than 120,000 parts per day and drives a 99.7% part kit delivery accuracy, the company says.

At Textron Aviation, which employs 9,500 people in Wichita, the incorporation of new technology and equipment has reduced cycle time by as much as 50% in some cases, says Brad White, Textron Aviation senior vice president of operations, noting that improvements vary according to the part of the aircraft being manufactured. While specific figures are proprietary, “we certainly have come a long way with overall productivity,” he says. The company has moved to monolithic machining, added new and faster computer numerical control machines and taken other actions to improve its manufacturing processes.

Improvements in production and productivity can be found in Textron Aviation’s production tooling, including the design and addition of vertical tooling for assembly of its latest business jet models. Vertical tooling is ergonomically friendly and gives better access for assemblers, the company notes.