The aerospace industry is known to be very conservative. Companies typically use successful assembly methods that have already been proven to work in the past. In the past couple of years, however, the general attitude, in terms of assembly tasks, has really changed. In fact, since 2004, a complete mentality switch has been observed in the aerospace industry. Aircraft assembly companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin tend to use robotics for some of their applications. Most of the tasks that require precision and rigidity on big parts are now executed by industrial robots. Since aircraft programs last from 10 to 30 years, the payback on a simple assembly task can be very beneficial. Industrial automation is now essential for the aerospace industry. Here are a few of the robotic applications in aerospace manufacturing.