rest compartments, like other
pre-assembled parts, are all tested prior
to their FAL arrival.
An A350-XWB stops six times along
its FAL. These stops are stations and are
numbered in descending order from 59 to
50, then 40, 30, 20 and 18. At station 30
an aircraft has its full electrical power-on
test and aircraft mechanical, electrical
and avionics system ground testing. This
testing does not include cabin
pressurization, communications and fuel
supply, which is done later.
The A350’s manufacturing process
has been used as a test-case itself for the
introduction of Industry 4.0 and DDMS
elements. Company-wide, DDMS is in its
early stages and when it is fully
operational engineers will be making,
“any necessary adjustments to maximize
the efficiency of tests,” Airbus says. One
such adjustment could be the
introduction of uploading test data to the
cloud. The practice today is still to retain
the data on-site.
DATA INTEGRITY
The quality of the test data for in line
testing must be reliable, and Airbus has
200 personnel involved either full or part
time in ensuring data integrity. Test equipment has
always been regularly tested and this will not change in
this connected factory. “Some test equipment is checked
after each of the aircraft it is used for. Some other
equipment requires less verification though the
maximum time-lapse between two checks in a year,”
Airbus says.
The equipment being used for production line
metrology for the A350 includes lasers and computerized
positioning systems. “In the A350 final assembly line, we
are using 3D laser systems and best-fit software to
position major components before join-up,” Airbus
explains. “By using this automated approach, we are able
to guarantee that the aircraft is assembled with full
respect of the geometrical tolerances.”
The company is taking a careful approach to
introducing more automation with the use of digital
twins. As well as a product digital twin, the FAL has a
digital twin. This is used to introduce automation that
metrology
58 SEPTEMBER 2019 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
“The computer aided
testing system is based on
the same architecture for
all Airbus programs”
10,000
Skywise users
72,000
square metres of A350
final assembly factory
3 // An A350 going
through final assembly
at Airbus factory in
Toulouse, France
(Credit: Robert
Coppinger)
3
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM