Unlocking the Challenges of Advanced Air Mobility

James Marceau, Managing Director Luigi Peluso, Managing Director Pablo Wangermann, Managing Director Nick Bowman, Senior Director Ars-Vita Alamsyah, Senior Associate

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) offers the potential to shift the way people and goods move through the air. AAM manufacturers — who produce advanced manned and unmanned vehicles and drones — are engaged in fierce competition to become pioneers in this emerging field. But are AAM manufacturers ready to lead in their respective product segments? And how should existing aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers react?

Industry players will need to overcome eight challenges to meet the rapidly-expanding sector and the pressures of growing production needs:

Understand the Pace of Growth in Innovation and Investment
Find Creative Solutions to Ensure Suppliers Can Meet Demand
Adopt New Approaches to Rapidly Scale Production
Prepare for Disruption Among Incumbent Players
Develop Solutions to Establish and Ensure Certification Requirements
Optimize Maintenance Repair and Operations Support
Take a Lesson Learned from the Electric Vehicle Automotive Industry
Prepare for the Future of AAM through Investment, Capital and Plant Footprint Strategies.

Preparing for the AAM Future

Investment Strategy: How should you diversify your portfolio? Where should you invest, when should you act, which capabilities should you prioritize and what volume should you project?
Capital Needs: How much investment will be required and is warranted to scale operations at pace and deliver the projected production volumes? What is the financing strategy to support this?
Manufacturing Footprint Configuration: Given the rapidly changing AAM environment, how are you flexibly configuring your physical infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities?
Business Process Adaptation: What business processes and product development methodologies are you implementing to ensure responsiveness and adaptability?

How A&M Can Help

Manufacturers should embrace agility, and A&M has partnered with clients to configure their manufacturing capabilities to support flexible production processes. Read the article’s case study to learn how this strategy supports the ability to quickly iterate design changes while deploying digital and automation systems to enhance operational efficiency.
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Authors

James Marceau

Managing Director

James Marceau is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Private Equity Performance Improvement in Boston. A leader in the Aerospace, Defense & Aviation practice, he heads teams of consultants, engineers, data scientists, and financial and operations executives that deliver results.

Luigi Peluso

Managing Director

Mr. Peluso brings more than 30 years of experience leading high impact transformative programs and driving operational improvement in sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and selling, general and administrative (SG&A) management. He has worked extensively with private equity firms and public corporations on a global basis, concentrating on the consumer, industrial, aerospace and defense sectors.