Demand driven
Bringing the Airbus A350 to market was not simple. A new design and new materials meant the production ramp-up would be challenging. However, the Airbus Group also aimed to cut assembly costs and times with the introduction of new techniques and procedures. Meeting these demands would require successful production management.
As part of developing the agile manufacturing abilities needed, the Airbus Group joined the ARUM (adaptive ramp-up management) EU research project. Developments included 'out-of-sequence assembly' and 'traveling workers' — where staff follow an aircraft section to different manufacturing sites to finish their tasks. In particular, the project focused on finding tech-based solutions to the modern-day needs of small batch production.
Targets achieved
The A350 now has three main variants, with the latest launched in February 2018. Despite all the challenges of bringing the plane to market, Bloomberg quotes the then COO, Fabrice Brégier, as saying the A350 program achieved its delivery targets and was “managed much better than any other big development so far,”.
Indeed, the $15 billion A350 program compares very favorably to market rival Boeing and its Dreamliner at $32 billion. This should come as no surprise though, part of the project motivation for Airbus was to avoid the expense of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program. By which measure, the project is most certainly a success.
Read more in our case study or see the video of Arnd Schirrmann's AnyLogic Conference presentation.
⚡ Also, don’t miss out on this year’s conference, April 2018 ⚡
Do you think adaptive production management really made such a difference to the program cost? Do the techniques apply to other industries? Have your say in the comments below!
