FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0059.PDF
Airbus A380 major components transport concept to final assembly line Note: 'Between Hamburg and St Nazaire "Joined to forward fuselage for transport from St Nazaire to Toulouse (22m x 8.5 x 7m, 20t) Airbus France wil undertake final assembly in Toulouse Airbus Deutschland will complete cabin furnishing in Hamburg FLIGHT CARETH BURGESS 01 Engine pylon - 4 elements Wing-to-body fairing - 3 elements • Airbus France (St Nazaire) • Airbus Deutschland (Hamburg) Airbus UK (Broughton) Airbus Deutschland (Stade) M Airbus France (Toulouse) • Airbus Spain (Madrid-Getate) The task of distributing airframe workshares among the nations that were to become the Airbus partners was made even more difficult by each having its own aircraft designing and manufacturing capability. Existing airliner pro grammes were central to the future of these companies and die arrival of Airbus was often-* seen as just another drain on resources - and one with a very uncertain future. Barbara Kracht, Airbus' senior director for press and informa tion services, remembers die expression used by her father Felix, one of die Airbus founding fathers. "He used to complain that Airbus was die unloved bastard," she says. From this seemingly impossible situation, the Airbus partners thrashed out a system of workshares that proved so resilient that it has lasted to this day and has even been applied to the A3 80. Its central tenet is straightforward and is based on the idea of creating "centres of excellence" in each country, whereby the national manufacturer specialises in specific pieces of the airframe and supplies them as com plete assemblies, equipped with electrical, hydraulic and cabin fittings, for delivery to die final assembly lines at Toulouse and Hamburg. In this way, Airbus' UK division became the spe cialist in wing manufacture, the German divi sion in fuselage sections, vertical stabiliser and interior equipping, Airbus France in the cockpit and centre fuselage and Airbus Espana in the horizontal tailplane. As a result, final assembly represents only 4% of the total Airbus workshare is manhour terms, and while this clearly reflects the desire of each partner to keep as much work as possible in its own factories, it has also proved a highly effec tive way of retaining the skill base in those coun tries and providing motivation that might otherwise have been absent. "They see a fin ished product emerging from their respective sites which is a recognisable and vital part of the completed aircraft," says Airbus chief operating officer Gustav Humbert. "It was the most effi cient way of using existing manpower and made the optimum use of resources." RATIONALISATION EFFORTS Some rationalisation has been inevitable among the partners in the quest for efficiencies. Hamburg now has full responsibility for front and rear fuselage barrels whereas before, the Bremen site produced the front section and Hamburg the rear. Adjustments have also been made to the organisation of the French sites at St Nazaire, Meaulte, Nantes and Toulouse. Complexitiesjaave resulted from the occa sional need to adjust workshare with each pro gramme, either for efficiency reasons or because of the need to balance partner shares to reflect their stake in the Airbus consortium. British Aerospace (now BAE Systems), for example, was compensated with extra work on the A3 2 0 wing when it became a full 20% part ner in Airbus because the value of its work on the wing amounted to only 17% of the total. Also, the relative proportions of fuselage workshare between France and Germany have varied sig nificantly from the first A3 00 through to the A330/A340andA380. The decision 10 years ago to set up a new assembly line in Hamburg to produce the A3 21 followed a fierce dispute between the French and German partners about single aisle produc tion. Itwouldlater pave the way for Hamburgto build the A319. The dispute raised its head again two years ago over the location of A318 assembly, with the Germans ultimately taking the prize. As part of the re-organisation, final assembly and interior furnishing were brought together at the same sites to improve efficiency. An exchange of packages was therefore agreed, which saw final assembly of the new A330/A340 remain in Toulouse along with responsibility for interior design and furnish ing, and Hamburg taking on final assembly of the A321/A319/A318. Toulouse retained the A320, and while shifting this line to Hamburg was seriously considered as part of the A3 80 workshare agreement, it is off the agenda now as the planned increase in single-aisle production rates to an unprecedented 30 a month means both sites will be working at full capacity. A3 80 final assembly will be at Toulouse in the vast new Fr3 billion ($406 million) Aeroconstellation complex, for which the ini tial call for tenders has just gone out. Interior fitting will be carried out in Hamburg and, while this goes against the "keep it together" philosophy, Airbus says it is the right solution given the "unprecedented emphasis" on the A3 80 interior, which should therefore be FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 January 2001 57
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
