Today, many global industries have difficulties meeting their transfer of production cost targets; the complexity in transfer of production is often underestimated. The aircraft manufacturing industry is a relevant example of a global industry, as many aircraft manufacturers produce parts in different areas of the world. The aircraft manufacturing industry include highly complex production tech...

A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of structural aircraft materials has been utilised to assess and compare the total emissions produced during manufacturing, use and disposal of aerospace materials and their selected components. First, a comparison of aluminium, GLARE and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates was performed to investigate the potential of lightweight composit...

Carbon fiber reinforced polymers are playing a key role for future aircraft structure design concepts as the newest technical developments for aircraft models B787 and A350 are showing. Due to the specific mechanical properties of this composite material and the novel manufacturing and machining techniques for large-scale CFRP made aircraft structures, it is necessary to establish an adequate p...

In this chapter, we describe in somewhat more depth the complexities of how lean production affects the manufacturing function. We look at both major process changes and enabling tools. We provide specific examples of lean implementation efforts and the savings that resulted. The companies that participated in this study demonstrated many lean pilot projects where savings were achieved in manuf...

THE FLANGED-ELEMENT MANUfacturing workshop at Dassault Aviation’s plant in Argenteuil, France, uses a number of short-run manufacturing cycles to produce small quantities of numerous aircraft structural parts. The many manual finishing operations, components, and manufacturing processes involved place a premium on management flexibility and quick reactions for meeting ever-changing production d...

Aviation continues to rapidly develop through ground-breaking technological and manufacturing feats. Specifically, the aircraft being delivered and manufactured today are evolving at an exponential rate, demanding innovative technology and manufacturing. From inflight wireless internet (Wi-Fi) to a light weight fuselage made with advanced composites to cabins that mimic living rooms of the rich...