Session: 18-05: Advanced Manufacturing and Design II

Submission Number: 179064

Data Spaces As a Foundation for End-to-End Quality Management in Aerospace Manufacturing 

Building upon previous work within the Aerospace-X initiative of the German Manufacturing-X research program, this paper presents a technical implementation of federated data spaces for end-to-end quality management in aerospace manufacturing. The Aerospace-X project aims to strengthen the competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of aerospace supply chains based on interoperable and sovereign data spaces. Within this context, the presented work addresses the current non-standardized exchange of data and certification documents, which is still largely based on PDF and email communication, and the lack of persistent digital links between certificates and manufacturing documentation, including process monitoring and quality data. As a result, immediate containment and root cause analyses are tedious, resource-intensive, and time-consuming, leading to higher costs and delayed corrective actions.

To overcome these limitations, the paper introduces a data space approach integrating process monitoring, quality control, certification, and non-quality handling to enable continuous traceability and transparency across the product lifecycle. The architecture employs the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) for semantic standardization and the Eclipse Dataspace Connector (EDC) for secure, sovereign data exchange, extended by aerospace-specific data exchange policies to ensure compliance and confidentiality. This solution enables early detection of non-conformities to minimize customer escapes, and in case of non-qualities, supports rapid part tracing, root cause analysis, containment, and countermeasures through cross-organizational data access. Furthermore, the approach integrates with corresponding activities focusing on the digital product passport (DPP).

Three industrial demonstrators in the form of a turbine disk, turbine blade, and seat assembly illustrate the implementation and validation of the approach, including the successful resolution of a non-quality case between customer and supplier. The results demonstrate that data spaces significantly reduce investigation time, enhance collaboration, and strengthen supply chain resilience. By combining standardized digital representations via AAS with secure, policy-based data exchange through EDC, this work operationalizes the vision of data-driven end-to-end quality management within Manufacturing-X and demonstrates its practical applicability in the aerospace domain.

Presenting Author: Philipp Ganser gemineers GmbH

Presenting Author Biography: Philipp Ganser studied mechanical engineering with a focus on production technology at RWTH Aachen University, where he completed his master’s degree in machine development and automation with distinction in 2014 and conducted his thesis at the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI) in Boston. From 2014 to 2019, he was a research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in the “High Performance Cutting” department, focusing on computer-aided process planning for simultaneous multi-axis milling of difficult-to-machine materials. He later led the groups “High Performance Cutting – Fundamentals and Technology Development” and “High Performance Cutting – Process Planning and Digitalization,” before becoming head of the department from 2019 to 2024. In 2024, he received his PhD from RWTH Aachen University on the topic of milling of freeform surfaces with circle segment end mills. In 2021, Philipp Ganser co-founded *gemineers*, a spin-off from Fraunhofer IPT developing a digital twin platform for CNC machining, where he has been Managing Director and Head of Product and Research since 2024.

Authors:

Philipp Ganser gemineers GmbH
Thorsten Schröder gemineers GmbH
Viktor Rudel Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT
David Ehrenberg Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT
Holger Weber German Aerospace Center (DLR) - Institute of Structures and Design
Marco Weiss German Aerospace Center (DLR) - Institute of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul
Thilo Fryen ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research
Akash Sambhus ZAL Center of Applied Aeronautical Research
Achim Hofmann Advanced-Materials-Concepts GmbH
Hannes Stiebitzhofer S1SEVEN GmbH
Lucas Schneider Synergeticon GmbH
Sven Blöcker Airbus Operations GmbH
Francois Bigey Airbus France S.A.S.