Research Project DIMLA - Digitalization and Internationalization Maturity Level in Aerospace
The project DIMLA aims at developing a flexible and adaptive system of key performance indicators (KPI) grid which helps to evaluate maturity levels of SMEs in the aerospace industry. The grid will cover the following three areas: a) Description and categorization of considered companies, b) Digital technology maturity levels and c) Internationalization maturity levels.
The subproject "Development of a KPI and maturity model" under the direction of Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Kersten from the Institute of Business Logistics and General Management (LogU) at TUHH aims at developing KPIs and a maturity model for the digitization and internationalization of SMEs in the aviation industry. For this purpose, existing indicator and maturity models will first be analyzed in the literature and in practice. This is done taking into account the perspective of mostly small and medium-sized suppliers as well as OEMs and integrators. From the resulting systematic comparison of the status quo, requirements for a flexible and adaptive future KPI grid are derived. Based on the core elements of technology, processes and organizational structures, a KPI and maturity model is developed to evaluate the internationalization and digitalization of SMEs in the aviation industry. To ensure a theoretically sound and practically validated result, a continuous, intensive exchange with the partners of the DIMLA joint project takes place.
DIMLA is a German-Canadian joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the initiative "Internationalization of Leading-Edge Clusters, Forward-Looking Projects, and Comparable Networks". It combines the expertise of various partners from interest groups, university institutions and consultancies. These include: Hamburg Aviation e.V. (project coordinator), Süderelbe AG, Tagueri AG, Hanse-Aerospace e.V., Hamburg University of Technology and DLR in Germany and Aéro Montréal, L'École de technologie seupérieure, APN and Siemens in Canada.
The jointly developed KPI grid will be applied and tested with companies from Montréal and Hamburg. The KPI grid will help to improve business and manufacturing processes and further develop existing business models. This will lead to a more efficient workflow and enable SMEs to successfully participate in the production ramp-up in the aerospace supply chain.
Project period: 10/2018 - 12/2020
