Transfer of technology and know-how to China? “Chinese” A350 big work-packages are currently manufactured and assembled in Spain.

The outsourcing of composite manufacturing outside Europe is a significant step by Airbus and could be risky because the Chinese partner (Harbin Aviation) is a subsidiary of AVIC, a shareholder in COMAC, which is busy developing the C919, its own A320-sized regional aircraft.

When asked whether he was concerned over the risk of Airbus technology being reused in Chinese-made aircraft, Rafael Gonzalez-Ripoll (Airbis China COO) was optimistically upbeat. “You cannot hide forever what you have delivered,” he said. “Technology transfer is the model for innovation. The technology we have moved to China is mature, not leading-edge. Airbus has since developed carbon fibre technology not used in Harbin.”

Airbus China COO is Spanish, as the A350 work packages that will be manufactured and assembled (partially and some totally) in Harbin; the Elevators, Rudders, Section 19 maintenance doors and belly fairing parts. Elevators and Rudders are currently being industrialized by Aernnova and the belly fairing by Alestis.

The concern voiced by some Spanish representatives was whether Airbus’ workshare in Spain is being weakened by moving its industrial packages to China. Once again Gonzalez-Ripoll was quick to reassure that there was plenty of work still for Spanish industry. “Moving work to China is more than compensated by the increase in work for the Airbus group as a whole,” he said. “The cake is getting bigger. The percentage of the ‘slice’ for each country may have changed but the size of the piece is still larger.”

HMC build state-of-the-art new facilities in 2009 which were inaugurated in early 2011.

 

The Harbin factory is ‘state-of-the-art’ with all the equipment needed to produce finished composite parts, including core and laminate cutters, laser projectors, automatic tape layer, hot forming, autoclaves, trimming, radioscopy, NDT C-scan and painting booths. Harbin will deliver the Chinese-made elevators to Aernnova where they will be incorporated into the A350’s horizontal tailplane.





Based on the press release “Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre delivers 1st major A350 part.

A350 second flight test prototype MSN3, painted between an A330 & A340. F-WZGG Registration

In this picture taken in Toulouse airport last Monday 23/January –and received by email- we can see the second flight prototype MSN3 of the A350 XWB, painted and parked outside.

F-WZGG registration for the MSN3

The picture was taken while the MSN3 was located at the end of the flight test line, next to the A340-600 and the A330, both aircraft that will be replaced in the future by the A350 XWB.

The MSN3 will be flying shortly, probably next week, joining the MSN1 into the certification program.

The MSN1 has logged more than 250 flight hours in almost 60 flights, about 10% of certification program. It has already met its performance specification in flight tests so far, as Mr. Leahy said, so a new phase of the certification test plan will start in comming days.



Based on the article “Airbus Says A330 to Survive a Decade on Long-Haul Discount Sales” published in Bloomberg.

“Spirit has come a long way over the past 2 years and we have gotten rid of most of our headaches, but we still have to keep an eye on them”, Didier Evrard HO Program A350 XWB.

For program manager Didier Evrard, the start of flight testing only increases pressure to ensure that Airbus and its suppliers are gearing up production smoothly.

Manufacturing missteps have recently tripped up Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing developing and assembling the Airbus A380 superjumbo and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

The A350 XWB, a two-engine intercontinental model designed to compete with Boeing's 787 and larger 777 models, is already more than one year late. Airbus has swallowed tens of millions of dollars in extra costs, in part due to troubles at its suppliers.

After problems with the superjumbo and Dreamliner, Mr. Evrard has made extra efforts to help Airbus suppliers, but concedes the process carries unknowns. "Taking on a supply partner is a bit like a marriage," Mr. Evrard said. "It's difficult to imagine how it's going to turn out on the first day.”

Roughly half of the A350's structure is made from carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites that are tricky to manufacture. Airbus and its suppliers have struggled to accelerate production of the precision parts.

One of the biggest headaches Mr. Evrard said he has faced is with Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

The Wichita, Kansas based company has been building airplane parts for decades, but only for Boeing, from which it was spun off in 2005.

At one point last year, Airbus had more than 140 engineers and technicians working with Spirit to iron out problems.
"It took some time to realize the extent of the challenge, as [Spirit] had overestimated their capability," Mr. Evrard said at an Airbus technology presentation.

Spirit says the problems stemmed from the A350's novelty. "We believe that the issues we have been experiencing are normal at this stage of a program for bringing a brand-new airplane to market," said Spirit spokesman Ken Evans.

Issues at Spirit came as a surprise to Airbus, which selected the U.S. supplier largely because of its experience with Boeing. Mr. Evrard said Spirit hadn't fully adapted to independence and was accustomed to Boeing monitoring its suppliers.
To address this, Airbus commissioned an external audit of Spirit's internal processes. This allowed engineers and managers from Airbus to help Spirit improve its supply-chain management, Mr. Evrard said.

Spirit has "come a long way over the past 2 years and we have gotten rid of most of our headaches," Mr. Evrard said. "But we still have to keep an eye on them”.

Airbus is ramping up A350 production as a boom in demand for smaller passenger jets is stretching aviation suppliers' capacity to meet increasing demands from Airbus and Boeing.

"Suppliers are dealing with a double squeeze from the ramp-up in production at Airbus and Boeing as well as the need to gear up for their new programs," said Christophe Menard, an aviation-sector analyst at Paris brokerage house Kepler Cheuvreux.

Supply-chain disruptions are "a real risk" for Airbus on the A350, Mr. Menard said





Based on the article “Airbus Aiming for A350 Maiden Flight Within Days” published in Dow Jones Business News

Airbus COO Customers Leahy pushes hard internally to raise production rates for the A350-1000.

Airbus will decide whether to raise production rates for the A350-1000 later this year, according to Chief Operating Officer Customers John Leahy. “I would like to see more -1000s built,” Leahy said on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting in Cape Town.

Leahy pointed out that he has seen a strong rise in demand for the largest member of the A350 family recently and that he is pushing hard internally for Airbus to increase production rates.

At the same time, Leahy insisted that Airbus will build the smaller -800, for which demand has been very low. “There will always be an -800”, but his priority has clearly shifted to the -1000 as airlines are now tending to buy bigger aircraft.

Leahy discarded the possibility of Airbus eventually offering an even larger version of the A350 because a double stretch of the -900 would risk losing a lot of its capabilities. He pointed out the failure of the Boeing 767-400 as one example where a double stretch has not worked.


Based on the article “Airbus Looks At Higher A350-1000 Output” published in Aviation Week.

Airbus allocates 5% of the A350 airframe to be manufactured in China.

According to an agreement signed in 2007 between Airbus and the Chinese government, Airbus agreed to allocate 5% of the A350 XWB airframe to be manufactured in China. The work packages to be carried out by HMC are a significant part of the five per cent.

The Harbin Hafei Manufacturing Centre, set up in 2009, is already producing work packages related to the Airbus Single Aisle programme (elevators, rudders and HTP spars) and started in September to deliver the first major part to the A350 XWB program.

In addition to helping Airbus compete better in Chinese markets, another reason for outsourcing to China is one of cost as there is, at present, a considerable cost difference between labour in China and in Europe. “Depending on what they do, the cost per hour of Chinese workers on the aeronautical side is between 2 to 3 times cheaper,” explains Airbus China COO Gonzalez-Ripoll.

“This is not just a factor of wages but from the fact that Chinese workers work longer hours. Currently, we have yet to realize all these cost advantages at Harbin, as the facility is still ramping up. However, once the process is mature, then it will be more efficient.”

However, he also issued a word of caution that this cost advantage may not remain in place forever. “While salary increases in Europe currently average around 1-3%, those in China are increasing around 10% per year – which will begin to erode this differential.”

Other factors may change too – not least the development of a new indigenous Chinese airliner. “Today we compete only with one major manufacturer,” says Gonzalez-Ripoll. “In the future we may be one of several manufacturers in the market. But what matters is that we can compete.”

HMC inagurated in 2011 state-of-the-art new facilities.

The Chinese edition of America´s Fortune Magazine has ranked Airbus twice as the most valuable brand in China and the Chinese Central Television has awarded Airbus as the international company better known in China.

Airbus appears confident that the move into China is a ‘win-win’ situation for both itself and for China. “Airbus is in China to stay,” states Rafael Gonzalez-Ripoll, who previously worked for Airbus in Spain and was appointed COO of Airbus China in January 2013. “When Airbus first moved into China in 1985, our market share was 6%,compared to 71% from Boeing and 23% from other manufacturers. By 2013, Airbus’ share has risen to 49%.”

 

Based on the press release “Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre delivers 1st major A350 part.”

Perfect moment to purchase a A350 XWB. Boeing increases the prices of the 787 and Airbus will increase them next 1st of January

Boeing has updated the prices of their aircraft in August.

model (million $)        Boeing         Airbus.      
767-300ER              185.8 USD
A330-200                                     216.1 USD
787-8                        211.8 USD
A350-800                                     254.3 USD
787-9                        249.5 USD
A350-900                                     287.7 USD
A350-1000                                   332.1 USD

Airbus will update the catalog prices on 1st of January as usual.

Price, while important, is only part of the equation, given that the airlines will get substantial discounts off the list price. Timing may prove to be the deciding factor in many negotiations..

The A350 MSN1 will fly outside of Europe in November.

The A350 XWB first flying prototype MSN1 will fly abroad to Dubai in November and to Bolivia probably in December. But it will fly before to Germany, Great Britain and Spain to show the aircraft to Airbus teams involved in the development for last 5 years.

The Dubai Airshow, which opens on 16/Nov., might be the first occasion for the A350 to land at an airport outside of Europe.

The A350 will be spending more time abroad for hot-and-high tests. These could still happen before the end of the year or they could shift into early 2014, depending on progress achieved in the other areas. These trials are to take place in South America, possibly in La Paz, Bolivia, although Airbus has not confirmed the site. La Paz has been used for such trials in previous campaigns, including for the A340-600.

Based on the article “Testing Times” published in Aviation Week.