The finalization cycle of military products is long, and the whole is not cyclical
Aerospace parts are a typical order production model. Military customers will formulate aircraft procurement plans according to their needs, and sign procurement contracts with the overall unit, which will decompose the production plan according to the military contract and purchase from the supporting suppliers according to the plan.
After receiving the procurement demand, the supporting supplier needs to study the key technical problems that must be solved, and the research and development stage takes a long time, during which a large number of evaluation tests and rework summaries need to be carried out, and if the acceptance progress of the whole machine of downstream customers is adjusted, it will also increase the project development time; At the same time, the corresponding products need to be accepted by customers and comprehensively assessed before they are officially put into mass production. Therefore, the finalization period of military products is long and does not have cyclical characteristics.
Affected by downstream customer deliveries, there are seasonal fluctuations
The end-users of aircraft parts are mainly the military, OEMs and civil aviation enterprises. Due to the production characteristics of the aviation manufacturing industry, its process needs to go through the process of raw material procurement, parts manufacturing, assembly of components and complete aircraft, and final delivery, and the general production cycle ranges from weeks, months to years. According to the product plan and delivery schedule, the settlement is often concentrated in the second half of the year, which makes the revenue of enterprises in the industry usually accounts for a relatively high proportion in the second half of the year, and there are seasonal fluctuations.
Military products have a high degree of customization and exclusivity
Military products have the characteristics of personalized, small batches and multiple batches. Military customers have special requirements for the application environment, indicators, parameters, and performance of products, and as a supporting supplier, they need to improve the process according to customer requirements. At the same time, due to the fact that the demand for materials by military customers may have a short time cycle and uncertain quantity, it is required that the first business has the ability to respond quickly, and needs to fully understand the demand characteristics of military customers, make a more accurate response in a shorter time, and have the corresponding coordination and production capacity.
Once it becomes a supporting supplier of a product, due to the characteristics of a high degree of customization of military products, the first business can usually maintain a long-term cooperative relationship with military customers.
The industry has high barriers in terms of technology, qualifications, and capital
The field of military production has its own special laws, high quality requirements, strict production management, long service cycle, and strict environmental adaptability requirements.
a. Qualification barriers
In the aerospace field, for the sake of product quality, reliability, safety, stability and other requirements, relevant enterprises must obtain corresponding qualifications and certifications before entering the customer qualified supplier directory.
In the field of military aviation parts, the main customers are large state-owned military industrial groups, and the first business must first obtain the relevant qualifications of military business and pass the quality management system certification of the national defense organization. After that, it must pass the target customer's document qualification review, on-site audit, sample trial production, etc., and enter the customer's qualified supplier directory after passing the audit.
In the field of civil aviation parts, Boeing, Airbus, COMAC and other suppliers engaged in the subcontracting production of civil aviation products have passed the AS9100 quality management system certification, and passed the corresponding comprehensive ability review of the first business, and the third-party quality management system certification is one of the prerequisites for market access. The acquisition of the above-mentioned qualifications not only requires enterprises to have strong R&D, technology and equipment strength, but also has a long inspection cycle, which has become one of the conditions for entering the industry.
b. Technical barriers
Aviation parts manufacturing belongs to the field of high-tech precision manufacturing, and most of its processing materials are special titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, stainless steel and high-strength heat-resistant alloys, etc., which need to be processed into various structural complex parts, such as aircraft ribs, beams, frames, joints and structural parts of various shapes, whose shapes are complex and special-shaped, difficult to process, and have high requirements for processing accuracy and product quality reliability.
A number of aviation parts advanced enterprises through the operation and use of advanced equipment and process technology research, in the long-term processing and manufacturing process of high-precision parts, gathered and cultivated a large number of professional and technical personnel, accumulated professional technology and research and development capabilities, to ensure the safety and yield of product manufacturing. To this end, to enter the field of aviation parts manufacturing, there must be certain professional talents, technical reserves and R & D strength.
c. Financial barriers
At present, the manufacturing process of aviation parts is becoming more and more complex, the use of materials is more and more advanced, the required equipment is high, and the value of the equipment is expensive, so that the relevant enterprises need to make a larger capital investment to purchase equipment with higher value to achieve a higher level of production technology to meet the production needs.
At the same time, the return on investment of military R&D and production is uncertain, and the mode of subcontracting and subcontracting at all levels of the aviation parts manufacturing industry leads to a long collection cycle and certain requirements for working capital. The above factors lead to the need for a certain scale of capital to enter the field of aviation parts manufacturing.
Sihan released the "2023-2030 China Aviation Parts Manufacturing Industry Market Status and Investment Potential Research Report".