Airbus has inaugurated its fourth A320 Family production line in Hamburg, Germany, as it ramps up single-aisle production to a target of 60 aircraft per month by mid-2019.
Airbus has inaugurated its fourth A320 Family production line in Hamburg, Germany. The new facility, featuring digital technologies and a more flexible industrial set-up, will play a key rôle in ramping up Airbus single-aisle production to 60 aircraft per month by mid-2019.
Airbus also inaugurated a larger, modernised Hamburg A320 Family delivery centre with more customer areas, more efficient delivery processes and increased hospitality services.
The new line brings the total number of A320 assembly lines in Europe, China and the U.S. to eight: Hamburg (4), Toulouse (2), China (1) and the U.S. (1).
The fouth Hamburg line features two seven-axis robots for automated fuselage drilling. These robots are able to drill almost 80% of holes on the upper side of the sections which improves the working environment.
The robots also drill with higher accuracy to ensure a constant level of production quality resulting in less rework. Furthermore, the new line features an innovative layout and the use of mobile tooling platforms that navigate autonomously with laser trackers.
The new technologies and processes applied in the new line were designed and implemented in close coordination with employees and following the principle of Design Thinking. According to Airbus, this has resulted in a more efficient working environment with an optimized provisioning of all required materials at the work stations within a range of three metres, shorter walking distances and components arriving unpacked, ready to mount.
Airbus plans to transfer many of the new technologies and processes to its other production lines worldwide.