Trent XWB engine flight tests in A380 testbed just the tip of the iceberg. Certification and ramp up activities on going.

Customers have been reassured by the sight of a Trent XWB engine strapped to the wing of an A380 flying testbed. However, to Rolls-Royce this outward display of progress is just the tip of the iceberg as it works on certification and ramping up production of the first flight-test engines for the new twin.

Certification tests

Rolls is poised to complete the final round of certification tests of the Trent XWB-84 for the A350-800 and -900, and has also frozen the design of the higher-thrust Trent XWB-97 for the A350-1000—the most powerful production engine Rolls has ever developed.

Ramp up

As sole supplier for the A350, Rolls also knows that within six years the XWB engine will be produced at the rate of one per day—the fastest for any Trent.

Airbus A350 XWB has a unique engine: Trent XWB by Rolls Royce.

For Rolls this means a high tempo of work on three fronts—certification, design and production readiness. “Overall we're pretty pleased with where the program is,” says Trent XWB program director Chris Young. Since powering up the first engine in 2010 and starting flight tests on the A380 flying testbed in February 2012, the program has aimed to incorporate lessons learned into the initial engines while clearing the round of certification tests in good time for flight tests on the A350.

The first set of engines for the initial A350-900, the first of the family to be developed, will be shipped to Airbus around the turn of the year.

The immediate focus is on ironing out potential issues in a specially developed pre-production area where Rolls is building the flight-compliance engines that will power the A350 test fleet. The work is vital to “proving out the industrial system,” says Young. “We're starting to get there in volume.”

The Trent XWB has a larger fan -a diameter of 118 inches (3.00m)- than the Trent 900 of A380.

It is here that the company has put the final touches to a “training” Trent XWB, designated Engine 21001, as a key element of its preparations for the initial production standard flight-compliance engines to follow. “We invested in this specific engine, which is completely error-proofed and showed we could do it,” says Young. The engine has been used to prove tooling and train the fitters who have begun assembling parts for the first four flight-compliance engines. “Now that we've assembled it we will test it and take it apart again, and built it again several times. That way we are constantly improving our knowledge of how to do it.” Next, it will be handed to the repair and overhaul group for their input, he says.

Engines for Flight Tests:

In all, Rolls plans to make 16 flight-compliance engines, 10 of which will be dedicated to A350 flight-testing. One is the already assembled training engine, three will be spares, and a further pair will be built for contingencies.

Development:

“We've taken a middle bay in our maintenance, repair and overhaul site to replicate a full-scale production facility,” says Tim Boddy, head of XWB marketing. “Here we are testing pre-production best practices in a similar way to Bombardier's preparations for the CSeries, and we've taken lessons from automotive manufacturers like Toyota and Mercedes. We have even borrowed some of their guys to help us with Six Sigma [manufacturing improvement] practices.”

The pre-production phase is “a unique opportunity to construct the engine in a single space and get the overhaul guys who work here to come over and tell us about improvements for the XWB. It will speed up the maturation process,” says Boddy, who adds that the concept was “always baked into the plan.” Although previously tried out in airframe manufacturing, Rolls believes that combining experimental, production and MRO elements into the engine development at this stage, and at this scale, is a first. “We think this is the only dedicated pre-production facility for an aero engine in the world,” he adds.

With certification imminent, there are few changes likely between the training engine and the final standard—which this unit will itself help define, says Young. “In the core engine, it is 99.95% to the final design standard. For the dressing [engine accessories around the exterior], it is probably 90% of the final standard. As always, you tend to find things for weight reduction and maintainability as you progress into production. So even now you can optimize the design,” he adds. Despite the dramatic strides in virtual assembly and digital design techniques, Young says that “there is nothing quite like a final physical verification. We are close to finishing the last [certification] test well before flight.”

One of the final checks was a strain-gauge test of the low-pressure turbine (LPT), which was completed in mid-October at one of the company's two indoor test sites in Derby, designated the 57-bed. This was done to confirm a minor redesign of LPT aimed primarily at durability improvement, and it followed earlier tests using X-ray images of the engine while running at cruise condition. “We found the blade position was not quite adjusted right and we produced a 0.95% specific fuel consumption (SFC) improvement by changing shims,” adds Boddy.

The certification finale is the dramatic fan blade-off test, which will be conducted in the adjacent 58-bed. A final spin rig test to clear the way for the blade-off evaluation is due to be run soon in Germany. The blade-off test, in which a fan blade is deliberately detached while the engine is running at maximum thrust, will take place “a few weeks after” the test in Germany, says Young. The timetable “assumes we have nothing to analyze from it,” he adds.

Other big-ticket certification tests such as medium- and large-flock bird-strike evaluations were completed earlier this year. “Both passed perfectly, and we just finished certification tests on the bill of material following the 150-hour triple-red-line test,” Young says.

Based on article "Final certification tests loom as first Trent XWB rolls out of pre-production site" published in Aviation Week

Airbus in UK. Without wings, aircraft don´t fly.

Airbus employs around 10,000 people across its sites in the UK. The prime industrial responsibilities for Airbus in the UK are the manufacture of wings for all Airbus commercial aircraft. Additional industrial responsibilities for Airbus in the UK include Landing Gear and Fuel Systems.

 Airbus in the UK has two main sites, Broughton in North Wales and Filton in Bristol. 

-Broughton has a workforce of 6,100 and its role is large component manufacture and sub-assembly, specifically for wing final assembly and equipping. A further 2000 people are employed on or about the site, performing ancillary activities in support of Airbus’ core operations. Broughton produces over 500 sets of wings a year, due to projected orders, this is likely to increase in coming years. The 700 acre site at Broughton has seen significant inward investment. Excluding research and development, Airbus has invested over £1.86 billion into the Broughton site during the last 10 years to create a state of the art, high tech, innovative and modern facility.

- Filton has a workforce of 4,000 and its role is engineering research, technology and wing design. The A400M (multi-role airlifter) wing final assembly and equipping is undertaken at Filton. Workers are employed in the design office and in business support roles such as procurement, finance and customer service. Teams work on systems, structures, wing integration, flight physics and aerodynamics research. Filton is also home to the Composite Structures Development Centre. Airbus’ presence in Filton will be enhanced with the future construction of a new aerospace business park, which is to consolidate the site’s engineering, design, customer support and other employees into one highly-efficient office block.

The size and importance of Airbus as a whole to the UK

In addition to those directly employed by Airbus, the UK operation provides work for a further 100,000 people through its extended supply chain of more than 400 companies located throughout the UK, including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s) and companies located in disadvantaged regions.

 Some of the companies in the UK who directly supply Airbus with components and services to the UK manufacturing operation.

Currently Airbus in the UK and its supply chain provide goods and services worth nearly £1.5billion per annum to the UK economy. Airbus in the UK is one of the UK’s biggest inward investors in research and design.

Airbus in the UK has over 400 apprentices, being one of the largest engineering manufacturing apprenticeships in the UK. Airbus is the first company in the UK to offer the opportunity for apprentices to qualify in three years with a full honours degree, as well as the NVQ Level 4. This investment has meant that 70% of senior managers at Airbus started their careers as apprentices.

MSN5000 Static test airframe rolled-out during a cold night in Toulouse airport.

Airbus’ A350 XWB static test airframe has moved into the facility where it will undergo testing to validate the structural design.

MSN500 roll-out

The airframe rolled out of the A350 XWB final assembly line at Toulouse, Blagnac Airport and was transferred to the L34 static test hall situated across the airport in the Lagardère industrial zone–home to the A380 final assembly line. As there are no operations from 22h in the airport, Airbus had freedom to use it to transfer the MSN5000 aircraft crossing the complete airport.  

This clears the way for the A350 XWB airframe to be integrated into a test rig for a campaign that will submit it to nearly a year of evaluations, including limit load and ultimate load validations, along with residual strength and margin research.

Static Test aircraft arrives L34 static test hall

The L34 static test hall covers an area of 10,000 square meters, and is supported by 200 workers during peak testing activity.  It houses a rig that incorporates 2,500 tons of steel and 240 jacks/loading lines, which are used to induce structural loads.  The testing is recorded by some 12,000 sensors. 

Static Test aircraft has a Dummy-Vertical Stabilizer



Challenges for ramp up: recruitment in Airbus and in suppliers (3)

Airbus’s COO Günter Butschek says production rate increase is Airbus’s single biggest operational challenge, and admits the company’s strong position is creating recruitment difficulties for its suppliers.

Growth for both the biggest commercial aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing, has created recruitment issues in the aerospace industry.

For example, this year, Airbus UK received 5,000 people to its apprenticeship open day for all apprentice positions. In the 2012 intake, the company wanted to hire 50 undergraduate apprentices – a programme that goes through to BEng level. In fact they took on 28, partly because the standard of applicants’ A Levels was not adequate.

As a desirable company to work for Butschek said that Airbus was in “a luxurious position”, being able to recruit adequately to respond to the current programme ramp up and for longer term succession planning, as many engineering staff face retirement in the next 10-15 years. He said the missing middle tier of trained technical staff between 30 and 50 was not unique to the UK, being a challenge also in other countries with Airbus facilities. 

But he admitted that his company’s popularity meant that its key suppliers could be missing out on new recruits.

“When you talk to undergraduate engineers [about their job requirements] it’s not necessarily the financial offer but the conditions of employment, the company’s reputation, its growth path.  We are safe in this regard and that is not necessarily the case with our suppliers so I can imagine some of them find it very hard to be in competition with Airbus for the same resource .”

Based on the article “Ramp up is a challenge but recruitment is no problem, says Airbus boss” published in The Manufacturer

Challenges for ramp up: capital investment and lean manufacturing (2)

Airbus is committed that lean manufacturing and process improvement will answer as much of the higher output requirement as possible, but capital investment will have to follow in order to reach the company’s rate targets.

For instance, in the A320 program, in October production reached the rate of 42 units a month, while in 2010 these platforms were manufactured at the rate of 36 a month. Airbus would like to increase the rate further.

Airbus is in the process of increasing the production rate of long range aircraft from nine a month to 10 in 2013, with a plan to go to 11 by end of 2014.

“This depends on further developments on the EU-ETS carbon trade system, where a significant number of orders are on hold due to approval by the Chinese government,” said Butschek. “That will determine if we go for further rate increase in long haul aircraft.”

Production of the A380 is ramping up to a rate of three aircraft per month to keep to delivery obligations.

Mr Butschek Airbus COO said it was impossible to define how much of the additional rate could be achieved through further operational efficiency gains but that this was the core focus before further capital expenditure.  

“How much scope there is to improve production processes varies from plant to plant,” he said. “At Broughton [wing manufacture] the factory is already very lean. Yes there is still potential for being leaner here but perhaps there is greater potential in other plants. Of course there is no point in one factory having much higher rates of productivity of main components than another, because they must all come together on time to build an aircraft.”

Before joining Airbus in March 2011, Butschek worked for Mercedes-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and other car manufacturers in global locations covering the Netherlands, South Africa and China.

 

Based on the article “Ramp up is a challenge but recruitment is no problem, says Airbus boss” published in The Manufacturer

Challenges for ramp up: suppliers. Airbus´ different ways to support suppliers (1)

Airbus has cemented closer relationships with its suppliers, “most of which cannot be easily replaced” during the its latest output ramp up, says Mr Butschek, who stepped up to the COO job in June from Airbus head of operations.

In response to the all families order backlog, Airbus has introduced joint improvement programmes with its main suppliers which have technical capacity constraints. Specialists form joint project teams with suppliers, to explore the details of a project to seek “sustainable improved delivery performance”.

A more severe intervention is called a transformation project. “This is launched if we identify major constraints in the supplier’s capacity to respond to ramp up,” said Mr Butschek. “Deeper levels of operational support are provided, and we do make our support mandatory if required. It’s part of risk mitigation.”

There is usually no direct financial support, Mr Butschek said, “because the base assumption is that our suppliers are in a stable financial condition. They are normally in a position to fund their running operations and capacity increase independently.”

But he did not categorically rule out any financial support to key suppliers.

Based on the article “Ramp up is a challenge but recruitment is no problem, says Airbus boss” published in The Manufacturer

Air France set the first half of 2013 to agree with Rolls Royce and Airbus the #25 A350 XWB order

Air France-KLM Group, said it’s seeking to wrap up the purchase of #25 Airbus SAS A350 planes in the first half of 2013 as it pushes back a contract amid arguments over engine maintenance.

The airline had announced plans for the purchase of the wide-body aircraft in September/2011, together with the same number of 787. While the Boeing deal has been signed, Airbus is still waiting as Air France negotiates with engine supplier Rolls-Royce over maintenance.

“It’s reasonable to think that the talks on A350s will be concluded in the first half of 2013,” Alexandre de Juniac, Air France CEO said today at a briefing.

The French carrier is seeking to win work and preserve jobs at its Air France Industries division, one of a shrinking number of in-house aircraft servicing shops.

"The issue is service and maintenance. We have a solid engine maintenance operation and Rolls has a policy of doing the maintenance itself," said Alexandre de Juniac.

Air France-KLM, which is making heavy losses from its airline business, has its own maintenance and support division that is the only profitable part of the company. Air France wants “to be a player in the market of maintenance for these aircraft and their engines” as demonstrated in the recent inauguration of the 5.000 sq.m. new engine test cell facility at CDG-Paris Airport with an investment of €43 million.

“The test cell will enable Air France Engineering & Maintenance to cover the entire maintenance process for engines, such as the GE90-94/115 equipping Boeing 777s, the CFM56 power plants equipping A320/A340, the GP7200 engines equipping the A380, and has been designed to adapt to the engines that will equip future generations of aircraft”. For example, the 787 and A350 XWB.

Air France CEO in the new CDG engine test facility inaguration

 Rolls-Royce, the unique engine supplier for the A350 XWB, has been reluctant to grant third-party repair rights because maintenance contracts are more profitable than building the actual engines.

''Engine suppliers are loath to grant MRO rights to others. Engines are often sold at deep discounts, and in extreme cases, even given to airlines in exchange for the exclusive parts and MRO contracts. This is where the engine makers truly make their profits.''

It's worth remembering that Air France has yet to announce their engine choice for the 787 order and it could be the Rolls Royce choice to get an agreement with Europe’s biggest airline.

Based on the article “Air France Delays Airbus A350 Contract Amid Engine Upkeep Spat” published in Bloomberg and on the article “Air France invests €43 million in new CDG engine test cell facility” published in ATW