Safran Nacelles has inaugurated a new facility dedicated to the integration of the engine nacelle on the Airbus A320neo. The ceremony took place on 11th October.
Safran Nacelles has inaugurated a new facility in Hamburg dedicated to the integration of the engine nacelle on the Airbus A320neo. The ceremony took place on 11th October.
Safran has invested nearly €10m in the state-of-the-art 8,000m2 plant, designed in accordance with Lean Manufacturing best practice. The facility features four flexible assembly lines with four Engine Buildup (EBU) stations.
Located close to the A320neo final assembly line, it currently has a workforce of nearly 70 highly qualified employees, and will expand to about 100 employees by 2020.
Tools and equipment are designed to meet the challenge posed by the elevated production rates targeted by Airbus. By 2020, the company aims to assemble and integrate some 400 nacelles per year on the CFM LEAP-1A engines powering the Airbus A320neo.
All nacelle components – air inlet, engine cowl, thrust reverser and exhaust system – are assembled on site, then painted before being integrated on the engine. These propulsion systems are then acceptance tested by customer airlines before being delivered to the Airbus final assembly line.
The inauguration of this plant is concurrent with the delivery of the 200th LEAP-1A propulsion system to Airbus from Hamburg. It also marks the milestone of 600 propulsion systems delivered since the A320neo entry into service in August 2016.