Hexcel

Hexcel, a global leader in advanced composite materials for aerospace applications, faced persistent unplanned equipment downtime across its precision manufacturing operations. In aerospace composites production, where tolerances are tight and material waste is costly, unexpected equipment failures create cascading disruptions — halting curing cycles, scrapping in-process layups, and delaying delivery schedules to OEM customers like Airbus and Boeing. Reactive maintenance practices meant technicians responded to failures after they occurred, with no visibility into developing faults. The unpredictability made production planning difficult and eroded the operational reliability that aerospace supply chains demand.

Hexcel deployed a predictive maintenance solution through Rockwell Automation, leveraging condition monitoring hardware and AI-driven analytics — likely drawing on Rockwell's FactoryTalk Analytics GuardianAI platform — to continuously monitor equipment health across manufacturing assets. Sensors capture real-time vibration, temperature, and operational data from critical machinery, feeding machine learning models that detect anomalous patterns indicative of impending failure. Rather than replacing existing control infrastructure, the solution integrated with Hexcel's installed base of Allen-Bradley systems, enabling data collection without a full-scale rip-and-replace. Maintenance teams receive early warnings with sufficient lead time to schedule interventions during planned windows, shifting from reactive to condition-based maintenance workflows.

The implementation delivered an 80% reduction in unplanned downtime — a transformational outcome for a manufacturer where every unscheduled stoppage risks material scrap and schedule slippage on long-lead aerospace programs.

• 80% reduction in unplanned downtime across targeted equipment
• Maintenance interventions shifted from reactive emergency responses to scheduled, planned work orders
• Improved production schedule adherence for aerospace OEM commitments
• Maintenance teams gained advance warning of developing faults, enabling parts staging and labor coordination before failures occur

The qualitative impact extends beyond the headline number: predictable equipment behavior allows production planners to commit to tighter delivery windows, directly supporting Hexcel's role as a critical-path supplier in aerospace programs.

• Composite manufacturing demands predictive, not reactive, maintenance — material scrap costs and cure cycle interruptions make unplanned downtime disproportionately expensive compared to discrete manufacturing.
• Integration with existing Allen-Bradley control infrastructure reduces deployment friction; greenfield sensor deployments are not always necessary.
• AI-driven condition monitoring produces the highest value on high-utilization, hard-to-replace assets with long procurement lead times.
• Early warning lead time is only useful if maintenance workflows — parts inventory, technician scheduling — are redesigned to act on alerts promptly.
• Aerospace suppliers should quantify downtime cost per hour before deployment to build a credible ROI case for capital approval.