Here's a cool example at NIWeek 2008 showing how NI's RIO hardware for prototyping and deployment is being used at FedEx.
FedEx needed a fire suppression system to protect their pilots, packages and planes. Ventura Aerospace solved the problem by designing and prototyping an intelligent fire monitoring and suppression control system with NI LabVIEW and CompactRIO and deploying to NI Single-Board RIO within a year.