THE ART OF WING ASSEMBLY

Airbus Industries investigates new technologies and techniques for improving quality and reducing cost of its wing box assemblies.

Most aerospace engineers would agree that building aircraft is not like building high-volume cars. Markets, materials, monetary investment, and manufacturing processes and requirements are all very different. The automated assembly procedures embraced with enthusiasm by the automotive industry in the 1970s and 1980s were not seen as generally necessary in the world of aircraft production. However, philosophies often change with practical experience. In the auto industry during the last few years, there has been some significant re-thinking regarding the application of automation, resulting in a more subtle understanding of its strengths in particular applications. It is useful for repetitive high-precision needs and for easing physically awkward tasks. Meanwhile, in the mainly labor-intensive aerospace industry, automated manufacture has gained credibility in some areas as production volumes have risen and some market prospects look more positive.

Airbus (BAE Systems owns 20% of Airbus and EADS 80%) has a manufacturing schedule that projects production of more than 38 wing sets a month by 2005-at least 12 greater than its current average. Therefore, the company has unveiled details of the second phase of its new automated wing box assembly (AWBA II) research project, which, if implemented, it says could greatly reduce costs and lead times of the wing assembly process. The AWBA II project is just one example of leading-edge manufacturing technologies being examined by Airbus to help meet delivery schedules as orders grow and also to facilitate manufacture of more sophisticated wing designs. For example, the A380 will have more than twice the wingspan of the A318 and be 25% bigger than that of the A340-500 / 600 wing, which is the largest Airbus wing produced to date.