Ingenuity at the ready!

From wings which change shape during flight for maximum aerodynamic efficiency to an airframe consisting of 70% lightweight advanced materials including 53% composites, the Airbus A350 XWB embodies the latest dynamics and materials.

After 2,500 flight test hours, the A350 came into service in January 2015, and aims to lead the world's growing market of wide-bodied passenger jets. The A350's innovative technologies demand more efficient processes and integrated, precision manufacturing for an ambitious customer. The Airbus Group has indicated that next year it will deliver more than double the 15 Airbus A350 XWBs slated for delivery in 2015.

During the company's July 31st analyst call, Harald Wilhelm, chief financial officer of Airbus, said: “We are confident we will deliver the 15 aircraft by the end of the year. And certainly the ramp-up we have ahead of us is a very steep one for 2016, 2017 and the following years, and the foundations are laid right now in 2015. We continue to monitor our industrial systems supply chain closely for the A350 and we remain focused on tight cost control and ramp-up enablers.”

A sum of the parts

One such enabler is UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS), the company resulting from United Technologies' acquisition of Goodrich and merger with Hamilton Sundstrand. Also ambitious, with annual sales of $14 billion, UTAS aims to become a $20 billion company in revenues by 2020, and makes components and systems for civil and military aircraft that include landing gear, nacelles and electrical power systems.

UTC Aerospace Systems supplies more than 20 systems for the A350 XWB, including electric power generation and distribution systems, wheels and brakes and main landing gear, engine nacelle systems, cabin attendant and cockpit seating, ventilation, overheat detection, actuation, and pilot/co-pilot side stick controls.

To match Airbus's efficiency drives which inspired 95% of the A350's weight to be recyclable during production, greater fuel efficiency and simplified systems, UTAS will deploy lean manufacturing across its operations network, utilising recent modernisations at two of its European facilities in France and Germany.

The A350's larger components, the engine nacelle and thrust reverser system are assembled in Colomiers, near Toulouse, and some of its smallest components, like solid state intelligent power switching devices, are manufactured in its Nordlingen, Germany facility.

In Toulouse, UTAS performs final assembly on the A350's nacelles and their integration to the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine on a production line within a 60,000ft2 facility that opened last year.

Activities include assembly of massive, mostly-composite thrust reverser components through the production process. The line includes an infrared paint curing capability and a cell in which fasteners used to secure heat shields to the inside of the thrust reversers are installed.

The new A350 production line is the second moving line in the Colomiers plant. It complements the one used for engine building up and ‘podding' of the engines used for the A320 current engine option. That line moves constantly throughout each work shift, at a constant pace that matches the required takt time for the specific engine component being built.

Through being a mixed-model line, multiple engine types can be accommodated, including the International Aero Engines Alliance (IAE) V2500 and CFM International CFM56 engines for the Airbus A320 family, and soon, production of the nacelle system for the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM geared turbofan engine for the A320neo.

“Our new A350 XWB building, with its innovative moving line and infrared paint curing tunnel, represents the latest technology in nacelle production,” said UTAS Aerostructures president Marc Duvall. “It perfectly complements the building where we have done similar work for the Airbus A320 family for many years. With our new facilities and technologies, we look forward to providing A350 XWB nacelle systems to Airbus with the same great record of on-time deliveries at the highest quality.”

Meanwhile at the HS Elektronik Systeme in Nordlingen, Germany, power switches for the A350's electric power generation and distribution systems are assembled with cutting-edge fluency.

Using the latest ‘chip-on-board' technology the Nordlingen facility produces technically advanced intelligent power switches that significantly reduce the size, cost and weight of today's primary and secondary distribution systems in commercial aircraft like the A350 XWB.

In addition to driving efficiency, the facility must also be compatible with the A350 XWB's fifth generation system, which incorporates integrated input/output, integrated power supply, arc detection and direct connection. Compared within plastic hybrid/surface mount devices, these chips yield greater functionality at lower cost and at less than 50% the size and weight of the older design.

The pick and place base

In 2013, the Nordlingen division expanded with a 4,900m2, engineering and production facility installing the assembly flow line that incorporates two SIPLACE SX1 surface mount technology placement machines combined with special electronics assembly equipment.

“Our lines can place our breadth of assembly parts – from small, 0201-metric pieces to large naked power dies, at the precision and rigorous quality demands of aerospace applications,” explains managing director, Josef Maier. “It can place up to 30,000 components per hour.”

The system provides adaptability to changing volumes, across aircraft platforms, through the use of interchangeable gantries, heads with software-controlled placement modes and intelligent X-feeders.

The gantries can be changed in only a few minutes, and the software calibrates and adjusts the placement program automatically. The intelligent feeder system can be installed and removed without having to stop the machine.
“This new flow line allows us to reliably and precisely meet capacity-on-demand, and helps ensure that our switches perform at the levels required by the A350 XWB,” adds Maier.

The facilities at Toulouse and Nordlingen illustrate the XWB's efficiency challenge in a massive to micro-scale, from assembling nacelles tens of feet in circumference, to producing microchips barely bigger than a pinhead. Both processes rely on precision manufacturing to support Airbus quality requirements and the ramp-up needs of the A350 XWB.

http://utcaerospacesystems.com