A Knowledge Management Model of the U.S. Aerospace Labor Pool

The aerospace industry labor force faces challenges to its long-term viability. A record number of engineers within the industry are retiring, or otherwise leaving. Concurrently, the labor force’s ability to transfer knowledge from those leaving to those in the industry, or entering it, is hindered by geographical distance, barriers to knowledge transfer, prioritization of labor yield, and the broad classification/restriction of information on many projects within aerospace. These obstacles are relatively isolated to the aerospace industry, and will likely require industry-specific, tailored solutions. Additionally, the industry is uniquely-suited to centralized planning due to the near monopsony of the United States government and stringent regulatory control. To better characterize these effects, a systems dynamics model has been created utilizing Vensim PLE. This methodology looks at the U.S. Aerospace Labor Force’s knowledge as the system of interest, which is affected by various factors and feedback loops, including its productivity, profitability, and contribution to society. In total, the objective of the model is to aid the investigation of methods to strengthen the labor force, and, if calibrated, predict its general trajectory.