A350 XWB engines manufacturing maturity: experimental build-up area, preproduction line and standard pulsed production line.

A350-900 engine to the production line.

Rolls-Royce marks the final transition phase of the A350-900 engine from the preproduction to the standard pulsed “skillet” production line in a nearby site at the facility.

The switchover is underway with an early production engine (ESN 20027) designated the first XWB to move down the line, which is shared with Trent 1000s destined for the Boeing 787.

The first production-standard engine for the A350-900s were completed earlier this year and delivered as ESN20019 and 20020.

The move to the final assembly line gets underway with ESN20026, which will have its fan case assembled at the preproduction site before mating and stacking with the remainder of the engine on the standard line.

A350-1000 engine to the preproduction line.

In parallel, Rolls plans to move the A350-1000 engine XWB-97 from the experimental build-up area to the preproduction line in the 4th quarter of this year. Rolls is repeating the process it used with the XWB-84, preparing for the buildup to full-scale production of the XWB-97.

The preproduction line at Rolls´ main site in Derby will be used to develop assembly techniques and practices, helping to uncover and resolve any glitches on the assembly line, as well as offering early training for line workers.

During the preproduction phase again “thousands” of individual improvements to the build process are expected.

Series production in the future.

The first 8 flight engines for the A350-1000, and possibly more, will run through the pre-production line in 2015 in the buildup to first flight of the A350-1000 in 2016.

The 2 engine variants later will be integrated into a single “pulsed” production flow line that will assembly to record rates for a large Rolls commercial engine. Initial targets include a 6-day flow time.

“The facility, as designed, will go to 250 engines per year quite happily, and we shall see where we go from there,” adds Trent XWB Program Director Simon Burr.

Based on the article “Stepping Up” published in Aviation Week