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Why Boeing is investing $200m in

India R&D centre

odd Citron, chief technology officer and VP & GM however, is the availability of SAF. We are working on
T of Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T), says hydrogen (as a fuel) also," he said, adding, "One of the

advanced tech we are pursuing is truss-braced wings that
the aircraft maker's India R&D team has been
central to a number of the company's products.
efficiency. "
It's now strengthening these capabilities with a $200-million, are very thin wings for significantly higher aerodynamic
43- acre wholly-owned engineering and technology campus
in Bengaluru. This will be Boeing's largest facility of its kind The India team, he said, is extremely good in the use of
outside the US. cutting edge technologies, including AI and ML, to address
such issues and create new opportunities. "They are
"The tremendous talent here is contributing to both our developing the technologies for the future, whether it's with
defence and commercial sides, not in just support roles, but software or electrical/structural design," he said.
also in design and development of products," Citron told
Times Techies from the US. For instance, BIETC has been working on improving
efficiency of aircraft maintenance through AI/ ML.
The Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre (BIETC) Thousands of wires are tucked inside aircraft walls that
currently has some 4,000 employees, of which over 3,000 require regular checks. While each wire has a specific
are engineers. The company plans to increase the strength purpose, reducing their numbers makes maintenance easier,
by 25%. and reduces chances of human error. But doing that requires
transitioning from legacy formats to digital enterprise data
Through a joint venture in the US called Wisk, Boeing is standards. Manual data formatting is painful and long.
currently working on an autonomous fourseater electric
vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi designed for On average, it takes 18 hours to transfer a single design
passenger transport. Citron said over time, the company will while synchronising wiring data, capturing cable length, and
leverage the India capability to support Wisk. adding individual component part numbers. BIETC, in
collaboration with teams in the US, applied ML and
The India centre is currently playing a significant role in automation tools to improve and accelerate this transition
Boeing's efforts to achieve net zero emissions. The aviation of wiring designs.
industry has to get there by 2050. Sustainable aviation fuel
(SAF), Citron said, will contribute to 70% of the reduction ML is now helping automatically correct wiring design, and
required to get to net zero. "Our aircraft are compatible validate design without extensive rework. This has enabled
with 50% SAF blending. By 2030, we expect aircraft to be improved production and maintenance of Boeing aircraft,
compatible with 100% SAF. Thekey thing to focus on, with substantial savings in labour hours and cost.

48 | 2022 | DECEMBER | BANKING FINANCE