It seems like holiday festivities came and went faster than it took everyone to open their presents on Christmas day morning. Whilst our pet cats revelled in discarded gift boxes and pet dogs looked on in mild confusion, like watching some crazy, speeded up time-lapse photographic scene, I was left wondering where all the time went.
So why does time fly faster the older we get? With the global aerospace civil and defence industries forecasting significant production ramp-up rate increases on both new and existing platforms, time, or to be precise, the speed of it will be of the essence over the coming years. 2016 looks set to be a very interesting year for the industry as OEMs become feverishly busy getting ready satisfying airline and military customer demands for build rates of the kind the manufacturing industry has never seen before. Some tier ones are probably already having kittens wondering how on earth they will cope with a production workload of this magnitude. The smart companies will be wise to use 2016 as the year they carefully transition in preparation for the ramp-up predicted in the next few years, by looking closely at the kinds of services they offer. So while it may feel like the industry has a flat year ahead, in reality it’s only the calm before the storm. As Velocity Composites’ Darren Ingram predicts in this issue (page 21), the fuse has been lit and everyone is standing back. 2017 is the year when the fireworks are going to go off. Here’s wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. That old work treadmill will soon be spinning faster than ever! Mike Richardson, editor
