+50K
Employees worldwide
Accelerating Digital Transformation in a Global Aerospace and Defense Leader
A major aerospace and defense corporation faced mounting cost pressures and fragmented digital infrastructure across its complex multi-division operations. Together with EFESO, the company launched a comprehensive digital transformation of its operational excellence program. This collaboration transformed 40 Italian production plants through integrated business intelligence, industry 4.0 road mapping and shop floor digitalization.
Aerospace & Defense
Cost and Value Engineering
Digital & Ai
Manufacturing
Operations Strategy and Transformation
People and Organization
Procurement
Our Client
A leading aerospace, defense, security and cybersecurity company operating through five main business divisions: aerostructures, aircraft , defense, helicopters and electronics. This multi-sectoral organization considers itself one company despite its diverse portfolio spanning civilian and military applications.
€15B+
Annual turnover
+100
Production plants and centers globally
5
Main business divisions
The Challenge
The company’s organizational structure and operational landscape presented a high level of complexity:
- Complex stakeholder ecosystem: Multiple divisions operated semi-independently with distinct priorities, processes and legacy systems. This created operational silos. Extensive negotiation and alignment were required to coordinate across five divisions, 40 plants and several corporate operational excellence functions, along with digital solutions and cybersecurity teams.
- Heterogeneous WCOM maturity: Different implementation levels of the world class operations and manufacturing program across divisions and plants meant that robust acceleration and standardization programs were required, while taking into account local operational realities.
- Stringent compliance requirements: Making digital tools ready-to-use and compliant in the corporate environment meant navigating cyber security validations, managing IT system integrations, and replacing some traditional digital vendors.
Real Results Achieved Together
The digital transformation project delivered organization-wide operational improvements across the company’s industrial footprint. Working alongside plant teams and divisional leadership, we accelerated cost reduction while building sustainable digital capabilities.
8-10%
Transformation cost reduction achieved
+80
BI dashboards implemented
€10M
Industry 4.0 investment pipeline
Transformation Impact
- Shifted from pillar-based reporting to comprehensive business driver management covering safety, quality, cash management and productivity
- Established real-time visibility of production metrics through integrated digital platforms
- Created multi-year digital roadmaps securing committed investment for two key industrial divisions
- Delivered more than one thousand hours of training
Our Approach
The transformation was structured around three integrated workstreams.
First, business intelligence implementation using Power BI created unified governance from shop floor to corporate level, evolving from WCOM pillar management to business driver dashboards.
Second, industry 4.0 roadmap development involved digital maturity assessment, use case cataloging and prioritization, resulting in implementation plans covering smart maintenance, virtual glasses and exoskeletons. Third, digital platform deployment for shop floor management included high-level scouting. Implementation required extensive collaboration between EFESO and the in-house teams, with staged rollout across plants including weeks of configuration, training for core users and system administrators and compliance validation for cloud deployment.
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Facing Similar Aerospace & Defense Transformation Challenges?
- Managing operational excellence across multiple divisions with varying digital maturity levels
- Accelerating cost reduction beyond traditional improvement methods while ensuring compliance
- Building integrated digital capabilities that connect shop floor operations to executive dashboards
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