Review of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems Technologies for Cost Effective Wing Structure Assembly 2013-01-2336
Airbus commercial wings are assembled manually in dedicated steel structures. The lead time to design, manufacture and commission these fixtures is often in excess of 24 months. Due to the nature of these fixtures, manufacturing is slow in responding to changes in demand. There is underused capacity in some areas and insufficient ramp-up speed where increased production rate is needed. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems and Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS) provide an approach to system design that provides appropriate capacity when needed.
The aim of the paper is to review RAS technologies that are suitable for cost-effective wing structure assembly and what knowledge gaps exist for a RAS to be achieved. The paper examines successful cases of RAS and reviews relevant system design approaches. Cost savings are acknowledged and tabularised where demonstrated in research. The research gaps to realising a RAS for wing assembly are identified and different approaches are considered. A table summarises the technologies and methods that are reviewed and acknowledges feasibility and costs.
Citation: Jefferson, T., Crossley, R., Smith, T., and Ratchev, S., "Review of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems Technologies for Cost Effective Wing Structure Assembly," SAE Technical Paper 2013-01-2336, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4271/2013-01-2336. Download Citation
Author(s):
Thomas G. Jefferson, Richard Crossley, Tony Smith, Svetan Ratchev
Affiliated:
University of Nottingham
Pages: 13
Event:
SAE 2013 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Manufacturing systems
Productivity
Assembling
Technical review
Wings
Research and development
Steel
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