How Aerospace Manufacturers Are Scaling AR on the Shop Floor

In aerospace manufacturing, precision and efficiency are not just goals—they are imperatives. As the industry faces increasing complexity, stringent compliance requirements and workforce challenges, manufacturers are turning to innovative technologies to stay competitive. Among these, Augmented Reality (AR) in manufacturing has emerged as a game-changer, transforming how shop floor operations are executed.

But AR is no longer an experiment. The leaders in aerospace manufacturing have moved beyond pilots and proof-of-concept projects. They are embedding AR into their industrial systems, governance models and daily operations, achieving unprecedented levels of efficiency, quality and compliance.

This blog explores how aerospace manufacturers are scaling AR on the shop floor, the challenges they face, and the strategies they use to overcome them. With solutions like DELMIA Augmented Experience, manufacturers can deploy AR at scale—sustainably, securely, and with measurable impact. Let’s dive into how the industry’s frontrunners are leveraging AR to redefine what’s possible in aerospace manufacturing.

The Shift from Experimentation to Industrialization

Starting an AR pilot is relatively easy. A small team can quickly demonstrate the technology’s potential on a single use case. However, scaling is where most AR initiatives fail. What works for a limited trial often breaks down when faced with the complexities of full-scale production, especially in an industry as demanding as aerospace.

Common challenges that prevent scaling include:

• Disconnected Tools: Many AR solutions are deployed as standalone tools, completely disconnected from the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) or Manufacturing Operations Management (MOM) systems that serve as the organization’s single source of truth.
• Content Silos: Without a unified platform, AR content must be recreated for each new device, production line or factory. This duplicates effort, introduces inconsistency and makes maintenance a significant burden.
• Governance Gaps: A lack of clear ownership between IT, manufacturing engineering and operations creates confusion. Without a defined governance model, it’s unclear who is responsible for creating, validating and managing AR content.
• Hardware-Centric Strategies: Tying an AR strategy to a specific device, like a particular model of smart glasses, limits long-term flexibility. As hardware evolves, a software-first approach is essential for future-proofing the investment.

What Makes Aerospace Different When It Comes to AR Deployment

Aerospace manufacturing sets some of the highest standards in the industry:

• Strict quality and certification requirements
• Full traceability of operations
• Complex product variants
• Long production cycles and multi-site programs

As a result, AR cannot be treated as a “nice-to-have” visualization tool.
It must operate as part of a controlled, auditable and scalable industrial system.

This reality has pushed aerospace leaders to rethink how they deploy AR.

Key Benefits of Scaling AR in Aerospace Manufacturing

When successfully scaled, AR moves beyond a simple productivity tool to become a core driver of operational excellence. The benefits extend across the entire manufacturing value chain.

Operational Efficiency

By providing operators with contextual, in-situ work instructions, AR dramatically reduces the time spent interpreting complex 2D drawings or searching for information on a separate workstation. This accelerates cycle times for intricate tasks like assembly and inspection. It also improves first-time-right quality by minimizing the risk of human error, which in turn reduces costly rework and scrap. Furthermore, AR acts as a digital mentor, accelerating skill development for new technicians and upskilling the existing workforce.

Quality and Compliance

Traceability is non-negotiable in aerospace. Scaled AR solutions enhance compliance by creating a digital record of every task performed. When an operator completes a step, the system can capture timestamped photographic evidence and link it directly to the product’s as-built record and to the 3D model. This provides an auditable trail that simplifies reporting and proves adherence to stringent aerospace standards.

Workforce Empowerment

The aerospace industry is grappling with a shortage of skilled labor. AR helps address this challenge by making complex information more accessible and intuitive. It improves ergonomics by reducing the mental load on operators, allowing them to perform tasks more comfortably and confidently. This creates a more engaging, modern work environment that can help attract and retain the next generation of manufacturing talent.

4 Lessons from Aerospace Leaders Who Successfully Scaled Augmented Reality

Manufacturers who have successfully moved beyond the pilot phase share common strategies. These lessons provide a blueprint for deploying AR at an industrial scale.

Lesson 1 — Start with Repeatable, High-Value Processes

Instead of boiling the ocean, successful leaders target specific, high-impact processes. Focus on tasks that are complex, repeatable, error-sensitive and have a significant impact on quality and cycle time. In aerospace, prime candidates include fuselage assembly, quality inspection of aerostructures and the installation and inspection of brackets and other critical components where error rates are traditionally high.

Lesson 2 — Think Multi-Device from Day One

The best device for one task may not be suitable for another. A projection system might be ideal for an open assembly area, while a ruggedized tablet is better for inspection within a confined fuselage. A hardware-agnostic AR platform ensures that content can be created once and deployed across various devices—including tablets, projectors and smart glasses. This provides the flexibility to choose the right tool for the job without being locked into a single technology.

Lesson 3 — Connect AR to the Digital Thread

To achieve true scale, AR must be an integral part of the digital thread that connects engineering, manufacturing and quality. This means integrating the AR solution directly with PLM, MES, and Quality Management systems. On the downstream side, this connection ensures that operators on the shop floor are always working with the latest, most accurate 3D models and work instructions, maintaining a single source of truth across the enterprise. On the other hand, a well-integrated AR solution on the upstream side enables operational data to flow back to engineering departments, enhancing visibility into production processes and ensuring traceability, continuous improvement and compliance across all sites.

Lesson 4 — Governance and Change Management Matter More Than Technology

Technology alone does not scale. A clear governance model that defines roles and responsibilities across IT, engineering, and operations is critical.

Aerospace leaders establish:

• Clear AR ownership models,
• Standard content frameworks,
• Local “AR champions” on the shop floor,
• Short, focused operator training.

Scaling AR is as much an organizational journey as a technical one.

Furthermore, a robust change management plan is needed to ensure workforce adoption. This includes hands-on training, identifying and empowering internal champions, and clearly communicating the benefits of the new system to the operators who will use it every day.

The Role of DELMIA Augmented Experience in Scaling AR in aeronautics

DELMIA Augmented Experience has become the reference solution for scaling industrial AR in aerospace manufacturing. It provides a comprehensive platform that shifts the conversation from “what is AR?” to “how can we deploy it at scale?”

Its unique features enable sustainable and secure deployment at scale:

• Hardware Flexibility: As a software-first platform, it allows manufacturers to create content once and deploy it on a wide range of devices, future-proofing their investment.
• Seamless Integration: It easily connects to the 3DEXPERIENCE platforms and other enterprise systems, ensuring AR operations are driven by a single source of truth from engineering.
• Robust Compliance Support: The solution automates the creation of inspection reports and traceability data, simplifying audits and providing verifiable proof of quality.
• End-to-end experience: From authoring to execution and data analysis, DELMIA provides a comprehensive software suite designed for industrial deployment, supporting end-to-end continuity at scale.

The Future of AR in Aerospace Manufacturing

Augmented Reality software is no longer on the horizon; it is a present-day reality and a critical enabler of the Factory of the Future. For aerospace manufacturers, the ability to scale AR is becoming a key differentiator, unlocking new levels of productivity, quality and competitiveness. The leaders are those who move decisively from isolated pilots to fully integrated, enterprise-wide deployments.

Ready to learn how your organization can successfully scale Augmented Reality?

• Read our e-book, Leveraging Augmented Reality to Optimize Manufacturing Operations, for a deeper dive.
• Explore customer stories from industry leaders using DELMIA Augmented Experience like Latecoere and Spirit AeroSystems.

DELMIA, a Dassault Systèmes brand, leverages augmented reality (AR) to transform manufacturing operations and empower today’s industrial workforce. Powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, our AR solutions deliver immersive, AI-assisted work instructions, real-time insights and advanced inspection capabilities that reduce ambiguity, enhance accuracy and improve product quality and worker safety. By connecting the virtual and real worlds, DELMIA enables manufacturers to optimize processes, boost workforce productivity and accelerate onboarding, while adopting smarter, more intuitive ways of working—driving efficiency, quality, resilience and sustainable performance.