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aerospace manufacturing


design and implement a radical rethinking of the engine mak- ing process, Sluis explained. First, volume: without enough orders from customers it would be hard to make a business case for scrapping the old process and starting over. Fortu- nately, customer interest in the new engine has been strong, with well over 6000 orders to date. The company foresees the need to be able to more than double their previous state- of-the-art production rates.


“The line is built to be able to handle assembling 500 engines per year. From a jet engine perspective, that’s a very high number,” Sluis said. “The line has signifi cant excess capacity than what we currently need it for, but we wanted to put a line in that would serve us for the next 20–30 years. So we’re anticipating additional volume requirements.”


Designed for Manufacturability


Second, the new engine was designed with effi cient as- sembly in mind. “Previous engines were designed to perform on the wing,” Sluis said, “Less thought was put into how you put the engine together.”


The engine carriers move independent of each other along a monorail line. Each carrier can hold 5400 kg.


since production in Middletown started nearly 50 years ago,” Sluis said. The worker, in short, had to adapt to the shape and size of the engine: the engine wasn’t designed to particularly accommodate the worker. And the improvements made to the assembly process over those 50 years were incremental. “Over the years we’ve put considerable effort into optimiz-


ing that process,” Sluis said. “But we had really reached the point where we were getting diminishing returns on the in- vestments. From ergonomics, effi ciency—we’d started reach- ing a point where we couldn’t get much more out of that.” Three things had to happen before the company could


An example: Jet-engine designers refer to the “layers” of an engine, meaning the layers of externals that are added, component by component, from the inside outward, to the engine over the course of the assembly process. The more layers you have, the more diffi cult it is to work on the engine. “Many engine models would have fi ve or six of these layers,” Sluis said. “The new engine is only two, and in some cases no more than three, layers deep. That means the mechanic isn’t burying work under more and more work. So if we have any type of rework—let’s say the mechanic dents a tube—it’s easy to replace it. We’re not having to tear layers off, and possibly causing more damage, to replace a tube. The tube is usually on the surface. And that saves time.” Design for manufacturability is what allows, for the fi rst time, 95% of the new engine to be assembled using an ef- fi cient, worker-friendly horizontal process, “more like an auto assembly line,” according to Sluis. The horizontal assembly line has ergonomic benefi ts for the assembly teams working on the engines: The mechanic can adjust the engine up and down to their ideal work height, and can rotate the engine to help with diffi cult-to-reach areas. The new line is also safer because ladders and platforms have been fully eliminated, and there is no perching under the engines, bending, stoop- ing and climbing.


Carrier Independence It’s more—but not exactly—like an automotive assembly line: The third factor that enabled the new system differenti-


52 — Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing 2015


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