After the Second World War, aerospace companies developed and grew rapidly.it was ranked the topmost manufacturing industry in the United States. There was need to improve aircraft for commercial and military purposes, piston engine models were developed to jet aircraft which has a high performance (Wensveen,2018). Years after world war were referred to as the postwar era.
There were opportunities in the postwar era that led to the improvement of aircraft manufacturing industry. Countries were preparing themselves for a war that was likely to occur, there was peace but people had to take precautions (Wensveen,2018). Improved aircraft to be used for military purposes were to be developed. Before world war two, aircraft were mainly used for military reasons, the carried few passengers. Light aircrafts now had to be developed for passengers to board and transportation of goods for commercial purposes. Many people desired to transverse and navigate the world, this was made easy by improving aircraft for transportation from one continent to the other.
There were several challenges that almost crippled aircraft industry at the postwar era. The main challenge was inadequate manufacturing machines and centers for developing the aircrafts.US had no plant that would make these aircraft (Wensveen,2018). Nevertheless, the government that was in power managed to raise pump in funds to improve the existing facilities to solve the problem. The government also sold some of the facilities to private industries at a cheaper price.
According to Maurice et al., (2001), Another great challenge was finding skilled labor to work in the manufacturing industry, very few people had the skills and training more people had to delay development of new aircraft and it would incur another extra cost. Many laborers had to be recruited from the military force. This challenge was however solved by employing young and energetic laborers and management who would pass on the skills to the upcoming generation with much ease.
The laborers were being overworked and they were infected by several health issues. When XP-80 aircraft was being developed, about 30 percent of the laborers succumbed after they got health problems.to solve these, their more laborers had to be employed to work as a team to reduce the amount of workload. Those who got ill were given urgent and the best health care. This problem was anticipated to happen though (Maurice et al., 2001).
The high capital was needed to develop industries that would improve aircraft, huge machinery had to be purchased and their prices were very high. Money was also needed to pay all the workers, laborers and the trainers (Maurice et al., 2001). However great this problem was, the companies adjusted and managed to raise the funds after some period.
The aircraft industry could have done things differently during the great migration from piston engine to jets with high performance. Strategies and plan should have been put in place in perfect chronology, all staff and workers who had been recruited would have been trained before anything else and told the objectives and purpose of the new development (Maurice et al., 2001). This would motivate every stakeholder and enable them to work with much zeal and enthusiasm. Enough funds could have been put in place, to speed up the developments. Workers would have also been motivated by getting good payments so that they work to their best.
References
Maurice, L. Q., Lander, H., Edwards, T., " Harrison Iii, W. E. (2001). Advanced aviation fuels: a look ahead via a historical perspective. Fuel, 80(5), 747-756.
Wensveen, J. (2018). Air transportation: A management perspective. Routledge.
