| In addition, aircraft manufacturers are faced with the dilemma of an aging population of machine tools. Many of the major Machine Tool Builders (MTBs) historically used proprietary controls on their machines over the past 20-30 years. As their businesses shrunk, their ability to support and develop new technology within these proprietary controls became more and more difficult. Aerospace manufacturers and Machine Tool Builders now need to migrate to more standardized controls in order to keep up with rising production demands and newer more sophisticated manufacturing techniques. The aerospace industry is also moving to a one-man, two-machine operation standard. This is caused by high retirement rates of knowledgeable North American operators as well as the need to cut overhead costs. At the same time, the industry is requiring more productivity from its aging machine tools These critical tasks and challenges create an increased need for reliable, precise and highly complex manufacturing solutions – and GE Fanuc has the technology, the services and the skillset to assist. | |