Master of Science in Engineering, Youngstown State University, 2017, Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Aircraft operators must maintain and sustain their aircraft through the platform's life cycle. The Department of Defense (DoD) is no exception. Many DoD missions may require a time-sensitive production of spare parts. This lends itself to spare parts production by the Department of Defense itself and such an approach could be enabled by additive manufacturing. In order for the government to be able to produce spare parts in-house an entirely new business model between the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the government has to be established. A physical spare part would not be the transacted item; instead the technical data package (TDP) would be exchanged. Industry needs to be incentivized to adopt a data focused business model. A key question is can industry achieve equivalent profit similarly to the traditional spare parts production? This research explores business models from the perspective of industry. A survey was provided to both government and industry to identify differences and similarities in assumptions and expectations. Four different business models were developed. The business models were applied to two different case studies to evaluate the pros and cons of the various models. This analysis provides industry and government a reference for discussions on approaches toward future maintenance and sustainment manufacturing operations.

Committee: Brett Conner PhD (Advisor); Darrell Wallace PhD (Committee Member); Martin Cala PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Costs; Engineering; Industrial Engineering; Public Policy