AIRCRAFT PROGRAMMES I AIRBUS A350 XWB
FRONTIER THE FINAL The transition from design to in-service aircraft: Airbus’ order book now stands at 535 aircraft for 33 customers
Airbus’ latest business model relies heavily on the latest developments in product lifecycle management systems. Dr Neil Calder boldly goes to discover whether its mission towards an extended enterprise is a highly logical one.
Gallois, on the launch back in 2007 of the Power 8 strategy which was going to revolutionise the Airbus business model. “The A350 XWB will draw on this new business model, as we assign large work packages to tier one suppliers in return for a better distribution of future investment, risks and opportunities, with a consolidated supply base.” Well, that was the rhetoric near the
“W
start of the A350 XWB programme, but how much of this has become reality as it approaches the end of the transition from design to in-service aircraft? With the order book now standing at 535 aircraft for 33 customers, production investment in equipment and capability is well under way at Airbus and its first tier of risk sharing partners. The supply
e will turn Airbus into an extended enterprise,” said the head of EADS, Louis
chain for A350 will look different to anything that Airbus has done before. The Airbus extended enterprise is a
concept that has been some time in the making. There is a trail of technology development projects from at least the turn of the century to create the tools and processes and various capability staging posts along the way. The realisation relies heavily on product lifecycle management (PLM) systems.
A collaborative mindset According to Airbus’ executive vice- president of programmes Tom Williams, through the A350 extended enterprise, Airbus and its suppliers will follow the same development logic, use the same IT and business tools, use the same methods and processes, exchange electronic data, run a coherent change process and develop a reinforced collaborative
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mindset. This new logic for the A350 XWB development was expected to reduce the pre-development time from 2-3 years down to 2 years and the development time from the current 5-6 years to more like 4-4.5 years. Airbus is also looking for a faster production ramp-up and a higher product maturity at entry into service as a consequence of this.
Supplier head count has reduced by
some 40% with fewer, but larger work packages across aerostructures and systems. Although critical components have been retained within Airbus business units, there is a balanced 50:50 split between made and bought products. Airbus has expected this new system to offer potential for weight reductions too. Expanding the scope of the system or structure managed by each major supplier to include a greater number
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Photo: Airbus
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