At the Paris Air Show, I met with aerospace and defense (A&D) executives across the industry, and a new theme emerged in our conversations. For years at these shows, the spotlight has been on growth in the form of new orders, greater capacity, and production ramp-ups. But now the narrative is changing. Aircraft deals are still large, and the backlogs are significant—but the pace of new orders is slowing.
Boeing alone reported a commercial aircraft backlog of $545 billion, with more than 5,600 aircraft under contract. It’s only natural that there would be a shift in focus from booking to building. With large fleets already on order, airlines and defense customers are concentrating on delivery, reliability, and long-term value. The question for manufacturers is no longer “How many deals can we win?” but “Can we deliver what we’ve already committed to?”
Execution Is Now the Differentiator
When new sales slow down, the operational performance of your organization becomes the metric that matters. Can your team meet delivery schedules with precision? Can you maintain quality while adjusting to supply disruptions, labor gaps, or engineering changes? These questions are always important, but given the state of the market, they have become strategically central.
Execution shortfalls create ripple effects. One missed milestone can disrupt downstream programs, contract options, and future bids. In this environment, trust becomes currency. The companies that consistently deliver under pressure will be the ones customers return to.
This puts a new kind of pressure on leaders. You can’t delegate execution excellence, and you can’t build it overnight. It requires alignment across production, engineering, quality, and supply chain. And it calls for real-time visibility, traceability, and the ability to act on data when issues surface.
Additionally, as backlogs grow and new orders slow, MRO is becoming an increasingly critical levers for enhancing customer value and maintaining a competitive edge. In this phase of the cycle, long-term reliability and availability are just as important as initial delivery. Digitally supported sustainment extends asset life, reduces downtime, and reinforces trust—turning execution maturity into a lasting advantage.
Digital Execution as a Strategic Asset
At iBase-t, we often talk about execution not just as a process but as a capability. Too often, I see manufacturers trying to manage complex, fast-moving operations with tools designed for a slower era when manual updates, disjointed systems, or siloed spreadsheets were the cost of doing business. In a high-pressure, execution-focused environment, things that were once inconveniences become business-critical liabilities, introducing delays and errors where speed and accuracy are needed most.
A modern Manufacturing Execution System (MES) changes this dynamic. It embeds structure and control into daily operations. It gives teams the tools to manage change, track progress, and stay aligned—even when conditions shift.
Solumina, our MES platform, is built and optimized specifically for the complex, highly regulated world of A&D manufacturing. It connects engineering instructions with real-world production activity, enabling real-time monitoring on the shop floor, quality management in context, full traceability, and production impact that goes beyond check-the-box reporting.
Why This Moment Matters
With order books still full but new deals slowing, manufacturers face a rare window. This is the time to invest in execution maturity. Programs have the space to refine processes, close gaps, and modernize their operations—without the chaos of an all-out ramp-up.
This doesn’t require a complete transformation overnight. In fact, the most effective teams I speak with start by solving one problem well—connecting inspection records to production steps, capturing reasons for rework, or aligning operator instructions with engineering updates. Or, they choose one product or even one sub-assembly as the seed of a new, integrated approach to data. It is neither wise nor possible to attempt re-platforming your entire enterprise at once. Successful teams use an incremental approach, building on success to strengthen their execution platform, setting the foundation for modernization without disruption.
What Execution Maturity Looks Like
Execution maturity comes from clarity, coordination, and control. When programs run into delays or rework, the cause often stems from missing information or poor handoffs: engineering changes arriving too late, unlinked quality issues, conflicting instructions, or the like.
In complex manufacturing, every step depends on the one before it. Strong execution means teams know exactly what to do, when to do it, and what’s changed since the last time. It means each function—engineering, production, quality—works from the same data, in real-time, with traceable updates.
This kind of control depends on structured systems, consistent processes, and a commitment to removing guesswork from daily decisions. It takes steady effort, but the result is durable.
Looking Ahead
I believe the next A&D leaders will distinguish themselves not by the number of orders they win but by how reliably they deliver. Execution will drive reputation, margin, and resilience. And digital execution—supported by real systems, not workarounds—will be the lever that makes the difference.
If your team is thinking about how to use this time to strengthen execution, I’d welcome a conversation. This moment won’t last forever, but what you build during it can.
