FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0081.PDF
activities," says Qian. Despite this, XAE's production lines are operating only at 40-50% of capacity (including almost all of the equipment acquired for the Spey project), and because of China's Communist command system, the company is unable to reduce its 16,000 workforce to match demand. Instead, the workers are expected to undergo further training while the management searches for work to occupy them. CREATING WORK Qian says: "If this happened in foreign companies, a lot of unemployment would happen, but in our country, this is forbid den. The only way to solve this problem is to increase our production, not only from orders inside China; we also wish to get more orders from outside China." Harbin's Dongan Engine Manufactur ing (DEMC), with 10,000 employees, is in a similar situation, earning only a third of its income from aero-engines. Most of its income comes from a variety of civil products, including gas cylinders, elec tricity generating equipment (based on its WJ-5 aero-en gine), and a four- cylinder automotive engine, the 28W 38hp) DA-462. The DA-462 is its main product, and the company has its 3HT INTERNATIONAL 15 - 21 January, 1992 own foundry where it casts the engine block and major components at the rate of 20,000-25,000 a year. The ultimate capacity is some 50,000 a year. The engines are used to power the modified Suzuki minivans (the Song Hua Jiang) produced by neighbouring HAMC, but are also used for a variety of other applications, including rock drilling and vehicle air-conditioning units. DEMC was established in 1948, with the help of the former Soviet Union, after liberation from Japanese occupation (the notorious Japanese Unit 731 conducted biological warfare experiments on humans in a building now used for factory accommodation). The company originally repaired and overhauled piston engines, but also built the Chinese version of the Soviet Shvetsov ASh-82V, a 14-cylinder radial en gine redesignated the HS7 and used for the Z-5 helicopter. . Its two primary aviation products are how the WJ-5 turboprop engine for the Xi'an Y-7 and the reduction gearbox for the Aerospatiale SA.365 Dauphin helicopters licence-produced at HAMC. DEMC also handles some subcontracting for Garrett, making engine casings and some gears for the TPE331-series turbine engine. Unlike XAC, DEMC has not yet enjoyed the stimulus of a co-production programme to upgrade its equipment and manufactur ing processes, although the company is spending an average Yuan 30 million a year on new machine tools like creep grinders, numerically-controlled milling machines and a vacuum furnace from the USA. DEMC vice-president Feng Yongchen says: "Many of our machine tools are old ones, and we plan to replace them. We have contracted for replacement tools from abroad." The company has also been tar geted as a "key enterprise" for modernisa tion during the country's eighth five-year Xi'an is investing in improved machine tools plan, which started in January 1991. The company has already received some engineering help from overseas, however, with GE advising on fuel-burn improve ments to the WJ-5E. In 1988 DEMC called in GE as a consultant, and the two compa nies introduced a series of modifications to the turbine and high-pressure compressor, which yielded a 9.4% improvement in fuel consumption relative to the WJ-5A1. The changes included reduced blade-tip clearances in the turbine and high-pressure compressor to eliminate air leakage, and reprofiled turbine and compressor blades for improved aerodynamics. The new en gine is already in flight test on the upgraded Y-7-200B, and will enter airline service later this year. There is a possibility that DEMC will be selected for a major co-production pro gramme, building the TFE731 turbofan for the Chinese/Pakistani K-8 trainer (Flight International, 30 October-5 November, 1991). Garrett supplied four TFE731-2A engines for the K-8 prototypes, and has received an order for the first production batch of 25 engines. US DEAL The US company is discussing a co- production deal with CATIC which, if approved, would start with component manufacture at DEMC and build up to a full engine assembly line. China intends to build up to 250 K-8s, with 75 delivered to Pakistan and the remainder split between the PLA Air Force and export versions. DEMC's experience with GE is merely the first of what Yongchen hopes will be a series of collaborative ventures with the West. Qian says of the WJ-5E project: "I think that this project was successful be cause it was an international co-operation. It is down to the implementation of the policy of openness to the outside world and reformation of our industry. We are going to strengthen this co-operation in the future." There is a long way to go. The Harbin Y- 11B has Teledyne/ Continental piston engines and these are replaced with P&WC PT6s in the Y-12 ver sion; the Y-7 is to receive the PW&C PW127s to improve efficiency. Aircraft for export are being engi- ned with overseas products, and this has to change if China is to be a truly credible aircraft producer in the future. n
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
