Stuart Nathan

Automating aerospace manufacturing

In-Depth

The aerospace sector has always been at the forefront of technological change, and now it is spearheading a change that worries many: a shift towards automated manufacturing. But will this, as many fear, signal a reduction in jobs, or is it an opportunity to redefine manufacturing skills for the new century?

At Airbus’s site in Hamburg, one of the most striking manifestations of automated manufacturing is hard at work. With its latest aircraft range, the A350, having a much larger proportion of composites in its structure than older aircraft, new manufacturing technologies are a crucial part of the Airbus strategy. The aircraft wings, for example, are wholly composite, and the company has switched from manual to fully automated production for the wing components.

Whereas at the outset of A350 production, the wing covers – the skin that sits on top of the wings’ inner structure – was laid up by hand, the company has recently started using automated fibre placement to build the wing covers. It’s a striking sight. Like most large composite parts, the wing cover is made up of a series of layers of tapes; carbon fibres arranged side by side and impregnated with resin, with each strip about 5cm wide.

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