Airbus uses Dürr technology for vertical tail plane assembly
11/27/2007
Stuttgart, November 27, 2007 – Airbus manufactures vertical tail planes for all of its aircraft families at its Stade site in Germany. Dürr Aircraft Assembly Systems (AAS) received the contract to extend the Stade assembly line to handle an increase in production to 40 A320 aircraft per month. Central to the project is a new assembly jig with which components can be positioned very precisely ensuring that they are joined together accurately to form the centre box of the vertical tail plane.
By providing this new technology Dürr AAS is assisting Airbus in meeting current capacity demands. The installation of two new construction jigs in two stages ensured that, as required, production was able to continue smoothly whilst modification work was in progress. The previous method of transporting component jigs with cranes was also upgraded to a Dürr roller bed system without interrupting the production process.
It is vital in aircraft construction that the various components are aligned very carefully during assembly and then held precisely in place during the bolting process. The components are large yet relatively light. Positioning tolerances are very small and in order to stay within them jigs must be very firm yet be designed so that components can be adjusted directly whilst on them.
Installation work was completed in October of this year and since then the plant has been operating at full capacity. After supplying tail plane jigs for A380 and A400M aircraft, this represents the third assembly line operating with Dürr AAS jigs.
The Dürr Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of products, systems, and services for automobile manufacturing. Its range of products and services covers important stages of vehicle production. As a systems supplier, Dürr plans and builds complete paint shops and final assembly facilities. Dürr also delivers cleaning and filtration systems for the manufacture of engine and transmission components as well as diagnostic and balancing systems for vehicle components. Around 90% of Group sales relate to business with automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. The machinery, chemical, pharmaceutical, coating and aviation industries are also major customers of Dürr.
The company has been pursuing a program of consistent development of its business with assembly products for the aviation industry for some time. Airbus is the largest customer in this segment and in recent years Dürr has received several orders from this Franco-German manufacturer for its factories in Germany, France and Great Britain.
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Dürr Systems GmbH
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