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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1317.PDF
FAIRCHILD DORNIER GERMANY Jewel in tarnished crown JUSTIN WASTNAGE / MUNICH teams of hundreds to work on the interior have been developed. The jigs have tele scopic platforms rising up from the floor, again a trick learnt from the Toulouse A340 line, but additionally, Finkenwerder will have platforms descending from the roof. The company estimates it will only take 20 days to complete an A380's cabin furnish ings, not least since each of the 200 work ers can enter through any of the aircraft's entrances on three floors. Not surprisingly, there has been opposi tion to site expansion from some in the local population. The suburb of Blanken- ese lies to the north of the Rusch peninsula on which Finkenwerder sits. It is home to some of Hamburg's wealthiest and most influential residents. Airbus says that its plans for the site have taken into account the views of its neighbours. Engine run-up tests will be carried out in a separate hangar, 4km from Blankenese at the far end of the new runway. Airbus has applied for a reduction in flights, claiming that its increased use of sea transport and eventually airships will allow it to reduce movements from 35 to 30 a day. It will use low-level buildings and visibil ity-reduction landscaping techniques. Airbus points to the extensive use of 9m- high dykes. However, these were required anyway under Hamburg's flood defence regulations, to avoid a repeat of the dam age caused in 1976 when the water table reached 7.5m. Equally, environmentalists were highly resistant to the development over flights of another kind. The Miihlenberger Loch is Residents close to Airbus's Hamburg plant delayed planning permission over noise concerns Whatever the final fate of Fairchild Dornier, its state-of-the-art facilities in Oberphaffenhofen, outside Munich, could play a crucial role. A combination of Second World War hangars and brand new structures, the 270ha (666 acre) site offers investors a chance to acquire some of the latest labour-saving machinery and tooling at a knock down price - and avoid the industrial relations strife its introduction would cause at their own plants. By the time it merged with Fairchild, Dornier's plans to build a 70-seat regional jet were well advanced. But it needed a lot of money to acquire the level of sophisticated automated production machinery it envisaged. Fairchild was able to offer marketing know-how and, more importantly, access to US investors. In 2000, a deal was reached with two such streams of finance, German bank Allianz and US institutional investors, Clayton, Dubillier & Rice, who between them recapital ised Fairchild Dornier by $1.2 billion to get the first 728 to roll-out. Hall 360 houses 728 production, and construction of the 16,000m2 (172,000ft2) hangar and a smaller building connected to it started in October. Although building work has been suspended, its cost is small com pared to outlay for machinery. Indeed, only $200 million of the re-capitalisa tion has gone towards the new structures and the salaries of 3,700 loyal "Dorniana" engineers, who will be under-employed until the programme moves into serial production. Of the remaining $1 billion, 90% has been taken up by equipment costs, much of which is unique to Fairchild Dornier. Netherlands heavy machinery company Brotje, for example, devel oped the aircraft fuselage automatic riveting machine, specifically for Fairchild Dornier, at a cost of €6.4 mil lion ($5.7 million). The vast machine reduces the time per rivet by 50% to 7s. By 2008, the firm estimates it could pro duce 10 fuselage sections per week. Also, the machine only requires one worker to supervise it, rather than a 10- man team of riveters. These factors led to Fairchild Dornier winning the subcon tract from Airbus for its centre fuselage and bulkheads. Similarly, the automated positioning system used by Fairchild Dornier to mate the EADS Casa-produced wing will save time. Piano, Texas-based Advanced Integration Technology developed the laser alignment machine, which compares original design data with the position of tiny mirrors mounted on each aircraft part, to mate to within 20um of accuracy in a tenth the time taken by the usual 10- man procedure. It is the company's decision to pro duce a full scale cabling and systems simulator, an iron bird, that promises to be the biggest time saver. The fully operable integrated avionics simulator has "flown" more than 1,000h since 1999, testing hydraulics, landing gear and wing flaps. "We can do manoeu vres we could not do in real life for safety reasons," says Christian Seyffert, iron bird programme man ager. "Without this rig, the aircraft would have had to undergo at least nine months more flight testing," he adds. Fairchild Dornier hopes that any investor will buy the company as a going concern rather than let it be sold as assets. Earlier this month, the com pany retreated to Oberphaffenhofen, reducing its US operations by consoli dating its sales and marketing operations to Germany. Whatever happens Oberphaffenhofen will be a major asset to any new investor's portfolio. next to the Rusch peninsula, home to a rare species of duck. Despite only reclaiming a fifth of the water in the lake, developers are recreating a habitat twice the size of the sec tion filled in metres away from the ducks' traditional nesting area. The European Commission ruled that the protesters' con cerns were valid, but the creation of over 4,000 jobs was worth the possible loss. But in the town of Finkenwerder, opposi tion is centring on road access, as the exp ansion has not been coupled with the long- promised construction of a four-lane high way. For this reason, construction of the site's new quay was first to be completed, allowing more construction traffic to be transported by water. Half the site's work force arrives by ferry each day from the local train station over the river. Despite not winning the jewel in the A380 crown, Hamburg has nonetheless geared up as the former home of ocean liners becomes a major centre of airliner production. • www.fliqhtinternational.com CENTRAL EUROPE SURVEY FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 30 APRIL - 6 MAY 2002 ix
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