How it's made, how it works, how it works. Airbus: how planes are assembled

11 days - that's exactly how long it takes to assemble one brand new and shiny Boeing 737, the world's most popular passenger aircraft! A total of 38 aircraft are assembled at the Renton plant per month, and the 737 line itself has been produced since 1967! More than 7,600 aircraft have already been delivered to customers... And another 3,000 aircraft have been ordered and are awaiting assembly and delivery! At the same time, on the assembly line itself the atmosphere is more than imposingly relaxed. Visually, no one is in a hurry, because the most important thing is safety, and this is where the cost of a mistake is very high. Therefore, each assembly line employee works at a very comfortable pace without rush or fatigue.

In this report, I invite you to the plant where the Boeing 737 is assembled, because all of you, almost certainly, have flown on this plane at least once in your life!

So, with this guy I will start a large series of reports from the Boeing factories in Seattle. But first, a diagram of the location of factories around Seattle. The 737 is assembled in Renton, then the plane flies to Boeing Field Airport, where after a series of test flights it is handed over to the customer. Long-haul aircraft are assembled and delivered to the customer in Everett, there is also a center for tourists to visit; you can visit the plant as part of a tour:

The Renton facility includes production lines for the assembly of narrow-body Boeing 737 NG aircraft and derivatives. Production in Renton began on the eve of World War II. The famous Boeing B-17 flying fortresses were created here.

After the war, in 1952, the first passenger jet aircraft, the Boeing 707, left the plant. All subsequent series and modifications of narrow-body Boeing aircraft were developed here: ?707, - 727, ?737 and ?757. Today, 4 modifications remain in Renton’s production program Boeing aircraft 737 NG. The assembly of the newest version of the Boeing 737 aircraft, a modification of the 737 MAX, will also be launched here.

In 2003, the Renton facility was consolidated. All design and support departments received registration in premises directly adjacent to production. This restructuring increased the efficiency of management and interaction. At the same time, production areas were reduced by more than 40%. Production is organized as a moving assembly line, essentially the world's first assembly line for passenger aircraft.

Pay attention to the following two photographs, they hang at the entrance to the production. The first was made in the 80s, the second is a modern conveyor (!) work scheme. The entire assembly line moves continuously at a speed of 5cm/min!

The fuselages for the Boeing 737 are built in Wichita, Kansas. Delivered by rail at a distance of 3218 km. Delivery to the Renton plant takes approximately 8 days. The Boeing fuselage is uniformly green, while the Airbus's green has different shades. The answer is this: the Boeing 737 has the entire fuselage assembled at one plant, while the Airbus has different parts produced at different plants. However, big Boeings also on different ones, but more on that in one of the following reports.

Rhythmic aircraft production became possible thanks to the implementation of a virtual model of each aircraft being assembled. Long before the aircraft is laid down, the virtual model ensures the flawless assembly of all components and components (kitchens from Japan, seats from Italy), in accordance with the most diverse customer requirements. The principles of “Lean Manufacturing” are fully implemented here. On the other hand, this made it possible to shorten the entire cycle from order to delivery from 2 and a half years to 11 months. Every month, up to 38 Boeing 737 aircraft leave the factory gates, and in total, 415 aircraft were delivered to customers in 2012.

Now one plane is assembled in 11 days, the plan is to reach the mark of 10 days! And not by increasing the number of employees or space, but by optimizing the assembly process:

New 737-800 for FlyDubai. It was for this airline that Boeing delivered the 7000th 737 on December 16, 2011!

Almost everything is handmade!

Let's move on to the second line. In general, the height of the pavilion with assembly line 737 is 33m, width - 230m, length - 340m:

The territory is huge, so employees use bicycles to travel:

In the center of the hall, installation of galleries, hydraulics, and chassis takes place:

In the following position, the interior and seats, toilets, and luggage compartments are installed:

Then the plane is rolled out and transported to the next workshop for painting, but it makes its first flight completely unpainted! This aircraft for the Chinese returned to the assembly shop for additional modification of the components after test flights:

And there's a lake nearby. Beauty!

After rolling out, the planes are towed to the Renton airfield for 5 days, which is just a couple of hundred meters from the assembly shop. This is where refueling takes place; performing pre-flight tests, including engine testing procedures. The aircraft makes its 1st flight to the Seattle supply center at Boeing Field; the aircraft is painted in Seattle or Renton; painting takes 3 days; 1/3 of all aircraft are painted in Renton.

Then flight tests are carried out, which involve Boeing pilots and the customer’s pilots and it all takes about 7 days.

I didn’t manage to get into the painting shop either on the Boeing or on the Airbus, I really wanted to, but I had to put on a lot of things, and, as usual, there wasn’t enough time... Usually it takes about 190 liters of paint to paint a 737. After drying, the weight of the paint is about one aircraft is approximately 113 kilograms, depending on the paint application pattern.

In the next report I will talk about what I saw at Boeing Field. For example, a brand new 737-900 for the Ukrainian UIA, which has just returned from its first flight from the Renton plant to Boeing Field:

70% of all civil aircraft sold by Boeing are the 737 family. It was here that the first of forty Boeings that UTair ordered as part of the program to update and replenish the fleet took place.

Thank you for the excursion!

Every second there are more than 1,700 Boeing 737s in the skies around the world! The monitor is “live”, you can view each type of aircraft that are in the air. At the time of my visit it was: 787 - 14: A380 - 80.

Watching an airplane being built is like watching a cactus grow. At a logical level, you understand that the process is ongoing, something is happening. But what specifically cannot be reflected at the verbal level. You can stand for as long as you like, with your head raised under the green tube of the fuselage, and still not catch that sacred moment when this pile of parts takes on life and becomes an airliner. Even if you are standing in the center of one of the largest aircraft manufacturing facilities in the world, even if the planes here are made like hot cakes, several pieces a day.

pictured A320

There are two main aircraft manufacturing technologies, slipway and stationary. In the first case, the aircraft is built from scratch in one place; this is long, expensive and not very effective. If you need to make a lot of aircraft, and most importantly, quickly and cheaply, then they will use the stationary method, when the entire technological chain is divided into key points. And here it is appropriate to say that the plane is not built, but assembled. At the Airbus Corporation assembly plant in the town of Blagnac, a suburb of Toulouse, a dozen A330s, three A380s and more than three dozen A320s are handed over to customers every month.

The aircraft, be it the “short” A319 or the giant A380, arrives at the assembly plant in this form. Three fuselage sections, two wings, a fin and two stabilizers. From just seven parts we get a finished aircraft. Oh, and the engines, of course.

pictured A380

The “embryo” of the aircraft is the center section. It is on this that all dynamic loads converge. The wings will be pulled up, and the docked nose and tail sections of the fuselage, respectively, down.

A330 in the photo.

They start by joining the “pipe”.

pictured A320

The riveting is done by a special robot. Several thousand holes must be made in this section of the A330.

Until the robot rivets everything together, the individual panels are held together with temporary fasteners like these.

Any modern production is based on the just in time principle. While the fuselage is being assembled, its wings are still being loaded into the Beluga at the Broughton plant (England). There are five such beauties in the Airbus fleet.

The newly arrived wing is brought into the workshop and left... to warm up. On average, it takes about ten hours to equalize the temperature of the wings with the temperature of the center section.

in the photo is a wing from an A330

And here is the wing from the A380 being prepared for installation. This habanina weighs forty tons, and you can walk inside it without bending over.

Each part appears at the assembly site at a precisely defined time.

The production hum of the workshop is broken by the grinding sound of tape being torn off. I have always said that in aviation and nuclear energy, without adhesive tape, you can’t go anywhere!

The assembled fuselage moves to the next post, where a critical operation awaits it - docking with the wings. The plane is already starting to look like an airplane.

The next step is installing the keel. This is the only part that arrives at the assembly plant already painted in the customer’s colors. From now on, it is convenient to monitor the assembly of the aircraft; video cameras are installed in the workshop for customers.

The final stage is the installation of stabilizers.

So, the plane is almost ready. There are some little things missing, like engines. To get them you need to go to another post, and he is in another workshop, and the workshop is on another site. The lifts lower and the plane begins to press the concrete on its own. Some light fuss begins around, a siren sounds, a huge hangar door slowly creeps towards the side, and a wave of frosty November air hits your legs.

It seems that this moment can be called the birth of the airplane. Here he is, very young, timidly getting out of the cozy twilight of the workshop and happily squinting at the sun and the piercing blue of the sky.

Houston, we have problems. In the hangar opposite, things are not going so smoothly. Having pulled out the plane almost halfway, the tractor suddenly stops, and the workers, with a calm expression, begin to unhook the carrier.

What a shame, the height of the A320 keel is 11 meters, and the height of the hangar opening does not exceed ten. But the plane needs to be pulled out somehow.

The solution is simple and ingenious at the same time. With the help of a special lift, the plane performs its first rotating flight.

It would seem that it would be difficult to make a special opening for the keel, like the hangar opposite. The answer lies in this photo. The fact is that this workshop is a cultural heritage of France and cannot be rebuilt. It was here that the first Caravels and Concords were built.

At the final stage of assembly, the aircraft awaits “marriage” with the engines. And this is a separate story for the next post.

Final product.

I visited the French plant in Toulouse, where the giant Airbus is assembled: “For most people, airplanes evoke special emotions and admiration. As a child, a child lifts his head, looking at a tiny dot in the sky, leaving behind a white trail; at the airport, both children and adults love to cling to the panoramic windows, watching the planes slowly taxi along the apron, take off or land; planes are always photographed and spend a long time they are watched.

It would seem that transport and transport, but no. There is no such mass reverence for cars, no for trains, and no for ships either. And there is one for airplanes. And everything connected with them. Maybe because a person can also move on land and water (walk and swim), but he can only fly into the sky by plane?

I have been to various industries many times - from small to giant, to unknown enterprises and to factories of world famous brands, but I have always dreamed of visiting where airplanes are made. Those same planes that delight everyone, that we all fly on, that we photograph and admire.”

(Total 56 photos)

Finally, my little dream came true. Last week I visited the main assembly facilities of the aviation giant Airbus in Toulouse, France, where I saw with my own eyes how airplanes are made - my almost weekly transport.

If you, like me, love airplanes and want to see with your own eyes a little more than you are used to seeing at the airport, you need to go to the town of Blagnac near Toulouse. Here is the airport with the TLS code, which is also Toulouse international airport, and part of the huge Airbus plant. The airport and the plant have a common runway, so even sitting in the waiting room or business lounge, you can easily see, in addition to the planes of several dozen airlines flying here, and a lot of aircraft of the most unusual type, such as this one Airbus A380 Qatar Airways, not yet in livery and embarking on its first test flight.

In general, anyone can get into the Airbus assembly shops. The company's factories in Toulouse and Hamburg offer two- to three-hour tours costing 10-15 euros. Please note that advance reservations are required for those wishing to visit the plant. In addition, please note that taking photographs during such an excursion is strictly prohibited, both with any type of camera and with mobile phones, which is strictly monitored by the accompanying persons.

But we visited the Airbus plant not as part of excursion tour, but we spent two whole days here from morning to evening and without any prohibitions on photography.

Airbus S.A.S. is one of the largest aircraft manufacturing companies in the world, formed in the late 1960s through the merger of several European aircraft manufacturers. Produces passenger, cargo and military transport aircraft under the Airbus brand. The company's headquarters is located in Blagnac (a suburb of Toulouse, France), as are the main assembly facilities. At the same time, the company has four assembly sites - in Toulouse (France), Hamburg (Germany), Mobile (Alabama, USA), Tianjin (China).

At the Toulouse plant, which will be discussed today, the entire model range is assembled: A380, A350, A330/A330neo, A320/320neo. Moreover, the A380, A350, A330 are assembled only at this plant.

First of all, let's go to the workshops where the company's most commercially successful aircraft is made - the A320/A320neo series.

At one time, the A320 became a real hit and one of the most common aircraft of ALL currently existing in the world. Since 1988, more than 7,600 A320/A320neo units have been produced.

It is estimated that every 1.4 seconds one A320 lands or takes off somewhere in the world, and if all produced aircraft of this type are lined up, its length will be 260 kilometers.

The full production cycle of one A320 (from assembly of the first part to delivery of the aircraft to the customer) is about a year, and the main components of the aircraft are made in four countries: the nose and front fuselage - in the French Saint-Nazaire, middle and tail section fuselage - in Hamburg, horizontal stabilizer - in Spanish Getafe, vertical stabilizer - in German Stade, wings - in English Broughton, flaps - in Bremen.

All these parts are brought to one of the assembly sites, where the final assembly of the aircraft takes place, which takes about one month.

Airbus Beluga, Airbus plant, Toulouse, France, July 2017

To the final assembly site in Europe (which is Toulouse and Hamburg), large aircraft elements - fuselage parts, wings and stabilizers - are delivered by air, in the bowels of a huge transport Airbus aircraft Beluga.

This is what the rear fuselage of the A320 looks like, just unloaded from the huge Beluga near the final assembly line. At the same time, in the background you can clearly see the passenger terminal of the Toulouse-Blagnac airport and the A330 that has just returned from a technical flight for the Chinese company Tianjin Airlines.

The final assembly line of the A320 in Toulouse is located not just anywhere, but in the very hangars in which the legendary Concorde were once assembled. You will be surprised, but based on this fact, the hangars are even recognized as a historical monument.

On the one hand, this is cool and unique, on the other hand, it imposes certain restrictions on Airbus, since they cannot be rebuilt, changed, etc. It would seem, what's wrong with this? You'll understand a little lower.

We enter the FAL hangars - Final Assembly Line. It is here that the final assembly of the aircraft takes place, starting from connecting the fuselage parts and ending with the “filling” - electronic equipment and installation of the interior.

Surprisingly, this strange greenish stump with the back covered with red fabric is nothing more than a future aircraft.

In the front part, it looks a little more like its usual self - both the cockpit and the cabin windows are visible. True, there are still no wings, no tail, no engines, no seats, no electronics.

By the way, the entire territory of the assembly shop is divided into zones, each of which is drawn on the floor: zones for the location of so-called assembly stations, zones for moving mobile equipment, zones for moving people. A person without access is not allowed to cross the red line. Only personnel working with a particular aircraft can be there.

Installing a vertical stabilizer. By the way, it is the first to be painted in the colors of the livery of the airline for which this or that aircraft is being assembled. As you understand, all aircraft are assembled to order from airlines according to a preliminary contract and never to a warehouse, as is the case with cars.

Boxes with components near the aircraft. Apparently, these are elements of the internal rough skin of the fuselage.

From the first FAL hangar, the aircraft comes with a fully assembled fuselage, installed wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and part of the cabin.

After this, the A320 leaves the first hangar and is moved to the next one, where the installation of engines, avionics, all electronics and the rest of the assembly takes place until the very end. But there is one difficulty here. As I said above, these are historical hangars in which Concorde was made. Those planes were much lower, but the tail of the A320 is much higher than the hangar opening; it simply cannot be rolled out of here in the usual way. But since the building is historic, it cannot be rebuilt or even cut through to accommodate an aircraft stabilizer, as is often done. So Airbus engineers had to come up with a special jack, which is used to lift the front part and thus roll the plane out of the hangar, lowering the rear part of the airliner along with the tail to the very ground.

This is the answer to another mystery: why do airplanes have red noses in production?

There is very sensitive radar equipment under the nose cone, so a red film is applied to the nose to warn of special attention. Later, before painting, this film will simply be removed.

Almost at the very end, seats are installed on the plane according to the cabin layout chosen by the airline and the pitch between the seats.

Engine of the modern A320neo. It is so huge that its diameter is larger than the cabin of some business jets.

A commission comes from the customer and meticulously checks absolutely everything: whether the aircraft complies with the chosen specification, and whether everything is functioning, from sockets for passengers to engines and avionics. Then the acceptance flight.

And that’s it, the plane is being prepared for the first flight with the airline code under which it will fly to its home airfield in Asia, Europe, the Middle East or Africa.

Not far from the A320 workshops, there are huge stabilizers in the colors of the world's best airlines - these are the newest A350s, which began to be assembled not so long ago and which are just beginning to be widely distributed around the planet. Of course, the largest, richest, and most famous airlines are the first to receive the new product.

08.08.2017 216 0 0 aslan

It's not often that in a large factory you can see all the stages of production of something in a day. If this is, for example, a metallurgical plant, then in a day you can see the extraction of ore, the production of iron from it, and the birth of steel rails or rods. During aircraft production you can only see a small assembly stage. In order to see how an Airbus plane is completely assembled, it will take as much as 2.5 months, so it is quite difficult for an outsider to document the entire process. However, you can catch a small moment.

Today at kak_eto_sdelano I will tell you how Airbus A320neo and A350 aircraft are assembled.

We will start the tour from this workshop. It is not quite ordinary and is a cultural heritage of France. This fact surprised me; I could not remember a single similar technical structure in Russia that would have been treated so carefully. But they explained to me that the first supersonic aircraft were assembled here. passenger aircraft"Concorde", and before them "Caravelle" of Sud Aviation, which later merged with Airbus. The building has been preserved and airplanes are still being produced there, but it cannot be rebuilt or anything in its design can be changed, which is why unusual situations arise, one of which I will talk about next.

When building an aircraft, two assembly technologies are usually used - slipway or stationary. The slipway technology involves assembling the aircraft entirely in one place; this is time-consuming, costly and not very efficient. If you need to build many sides at once, then use post-assembly. In this case, the technological chain is divided into nodes.
At this plant, which stands directly opposite the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, a dozen A330s, three A380s and more than three dozen A320s are delivered to customers every month.

The full production cycle of one A320 (from assembly of the first part to delivery of the aircraft to the customer) is about a year, and the main components of the aircraft are made in 4 countries: the nose and front fuselage - in the French Saint-Nazaré, the middle and rear fuselage - in Hamburg , horizontal stabilizer - in the Spanish Getafe, vertical stabilizer - in the German Stade, wings - in the English Broughton, flaps - in Bremen. And the assembly itself, as I was told, takes 2.5 months.

The company's most successful aircraft, the A320/A320neo, is assembled in this historic workshop, which is the most common aircraft in the world. Since 1988, more than 13,100 A320/A320neo units have been produced, of which more than 8,000 fly this moment. Every 1.4 seconds, one A320 lands or takes off somewhere in the world, and if you line up all produced aircraft of this type in a line, its length will be 260 kilometers.

Airbus was formed in the late 1960s through the merger of several European aircraft manufacturers. The company's headquarters is located in Blagnac (a suburb of Toulouse, France), as are the main assembly facilities. At the same time, the company has four assembly sites - in Toulouse (France), Hamburg (Germany), Mobile (Alabama, USA), Tianjin (China).

Three fuselage sections, two wings, a fin and two stabilizers are supplied to assembly production. From just seven parts we get a finished aircraft. The engines, interior and other little things are being mounted in another hangar. This is where the final assembly of the aircraft takes place, from connecting fuselage parts to equipment, electronics and cabin trim.

By the way, you can also get into these workshops. At the company's factories in Toulouse and Hamburg, 2-3 hour tours costing 10-15 euros are organized. But you won’t be allowed to take photos even if you’re wearing sneakers, they’re strict about that here. We, as invited bloggers, were made an exception.

The entire model range is assembled at this plant: A380, A350, A330/A330neo, A320/320neo. Moreover, the A380, A350, A330 are assembled only at this plant.

Large aircraft elements - fuselage parts, wings and stabilizers are delivered by Beluga air truck. Like this. I will write a separate post about it.

The workshop area is divided into zones, each of which is drawn on the floor: zones for the location of so-called assembly stations, zones for moving mobile equipment, zones for moving people. A person without access is not allowed to cross the red line. Only personnel working with a particular aircraft can be there.

Cells for workers' belongings.

and sharklets will be installed here

One of the assembly stages is depicted on a banner installed in the workshop.

Let's move on to the next station. The installation of wings, transverse and vertical stabilizers is already underway here. The wings come without tips, mechanization, landing gear and engines. All of this will be installed over the next few weeks. The vertical stabilizer is the first to be painted in the colors of the livery of the airline for which this or that aircraft is being assembled.

Boxes with fuselage skin.

Another banner from one of the assembly stages.

The aircraft leaves this hangar with a fully assembled fuselage, installed wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and part of the cabin. But leaving the hangar is not so easy. As I said above, these are historical hangars in which the Concorde and Caravelle were made; they were lower than the A320, so they were easily rolled out after construction. But the A320 cannot be rebuilt higher than the building, so we have to get more sophisticated. The front part of the aircraft is raised on a jack until the tail drops to the desired level.

There are only a few centimeters left to the ground.

After which the plane is rolled into a neighboring workshop, where engines, avionics, electronics, etc. are installed.

This red nose is a nose cone that houses very sensitive radar equipment, so it has a red film on it to warn you to pay special attention. Later, before painting, this film will simply be removed.

The same equipment for the fairing.

Almost at the very end, seats are installed on the plane according to the cabin layout chosen by the airline and the pitch between the seats.

Then the engines are installed on the plane and it is painted in the airline's livery.

And of course they install sharklets

Now let's see how the A350 aircraft are assembled. To assemble one A350 you need 7 Beluga flights. They bring one bow fuselage, second - middle, then rear, tail and horizontal stabilizers, two wings (one flight each), and one flight with various bulky parts of the aircraft

This workshop is much more spacious than the previous ones, which is understandable - the aircraft here is larger, and a lot of space is needed. Here it is carried out from the side using the slipway method; the planes are not moved until they are completely assembled.

There are models of the assembly shop here, from which you can judge how and what is built here.

The gates to the workshop are open, music is playing here so that the workers do not get bored.

Meanwhile, planes take off and land outside the gates. By the way, every tenth flight at Toulouse-Blagnac airport is made by Airbus aircraft that have not yet been handed over to the customer; here the company has its own runway, which only they can use.

And this poster shows the new experimental A350, the fuselage of which was made half of a composite material - carbon fiber. Thanks to him, the weight of the aircraft was significantly reduced, and did not lose in reliability.

That's all. I hope you found it interesting! There will be a report about the Beluga flying truck soon.
Special thanks to Airbus companies and S7 Airlines for the invitation!

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I visited the French plant in Toulouse, where the giant Airbus is assembled, and talked about what I saw. The entire model range is assembled at this production site: A380, A350, A330/A330neo, A320/320neo. Moreover, the A380, A350, A330 are assembled only at this plant.

At one time, the A320 became a real hit and one of the most common aircraft currently existing in the world. Since 1988, more than 7,600 A320/A320neo units have been produced.

The full production cycle of one A320 (from assembly of the first part to delivery of the aircraft to the customer) is about a year, and the main components of the aircraft are made in four countries: the nose and front parts of the fuselage - in the French Saint-Nazaire, the middle and rear parts of the fuselage - in Hamburg, the horizontal stabilizer - in the Spanish Getafe, the vertical stabilizer - in the German Stade, the wings - in the English Broughton, the flaps - in Bremen.

All these parts are brought to one of the assembly sites, where the final assembly of the aircraft takes place, which takes about one month.

In the FAL hangars - Final Assembly Line - the final assembly of aircraft takes place, starting from the connection of fuselage parts and ending with the “filling” - electronic equipment and installation of the interior.

A person without access is not allowed to cross the red line. Only personnel working with a particular aircraft can be there.

We move to the next station. This is where the interior trim is installed. In the boxes you can see ready-made blocks with slots for portholes.

From the first FAL hangar, the aircraft comes with a fully assembled fuselage, installed wings, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, and part of the cabin.

After this, the A320 leaves the first hangar and is moved to the next one, where the installation of engines, avionics, all electronics and the rest of the assembly takes place until the very end.

But there is one difficulty here. As I said above, these are historical hangars in which Concorde was made. Those planes were much lower, but the tail of the A320 is much higher than the hangar opening; it simply cannot be rolled out of here in the usual way.

But since the building is historic, it cannot be rebuilt or even cut through to accommodate an aircraft stabilizer, as is often done. So Airbus engineers had to come up with a special jack, which is used to lift the front part and thus roll the plane out of the hangar, lowering the rear part of the airliner along with the tail to the very ground.

There is very sensitive radar equipment under the nose cone, so a red film is applied to the nose to warn of special attention. Later, before painting, this film will simply be removed.

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