CASE STUDY

Airbus A380 Pre-FAL Assembly Plants

Work In Progress Monitoring

Problem
Across the major A380 assembly factories, the tracking and reporting of status of the industrial process was done via various paper-based processes. Central management received data from different sources, which provided various views of the operational status. To ensure components arrive at the final assembly line at the right times from the distributed plants an improved process tracking system was required.

ROI
Improved planning Delays reduced Cost of inventory reduced

Solution
By precisely tracking Ubisense tags on components, the Smart Factory System provides Airbus with real-time work in progress monitoring. This includes accurate tracking of actual progress per component, a real-time visual display of component locations and synchronized information for the components of every single aircraft. Instantaneous alerts are given when process deviations occur, including missed steps and exceeded step cycle times.

Applications
Real-time process monitoring in all assembly plants Automatic alerts in case of deviations Process analysis and optimization

Infrastructure
Sites: 3 (Hamburg, St. Nazaire, Broughton) Sensors: 90 Tags: 210 Precision: 1 m

Result
Automatic work in progress monitoring of components has reduced delays in reporting. The ability to identify the quantity of WIP and to impact assessment of operational delays across plants has improved.

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CASE STUDY

Airbus A380 Pre-FAL Assembly Plants

Work In Progress Monitoring

s a joint European aircraft manufacturing project, Airbus is a multinational corporation with twelve highly specialized production facilities in Germany, Great Britain, France and Spain. This infrastructure poses special challenges to production logistics in aircraft manufacturing, which is complex as it is. Components are manufactured mainly at the Hamburg, Saint-Nazaire and Broughton sites, from where they are shipped to the final assembly line in Toulouse. For each aircraft, six preassembled sections are delivered on special trucks: cockpit, center and aft fuselage, empennage and wing units. The A380 is manufactured according to just-in-time principles, making it indispensable for the distributed production stages to be constantly monitored.The use case is to track large aircraft sections and have a more real-time view of our industrial flows, explains Carlo K. Nizam, head of the VCV division (Value Chain Visibility and RFID) at Airbus.

Real-time information can help us better support increased production rates quicker and more accurately
 Carlo K. Nizam, Head of the VCV Division, Airbus

ing components in the system. They generate location signals which are captured and processed by sensor units in real-time so that any components location can be determined and tracked very accurately throughout all stages of production. In the system, spatial zones are assigned to the specific steps that components pass through during assembly, so their actual manufacturing status can be very precisely determined. The Ubisense downstream software logs data as well as analyzing and visualizing the tracking information in real-time. Via web access, any authorized employee can thus view the current production status of the A380s components either at the assembly plant or at the Airbus headquarter in Toulouse. There is a choice of analysis tools that can be selected to suit different requirements. A real-time map, for instance, shows a components current location in the assembly line of a production facility. Thanks to powerful search functions, components can be tracked based on their ID number or other search criteria. The panorama feature provides a real-time overview of all workin-progress components and of the production status at all associated aircraft manufacturing sites, even indicating expected delivery timescales. Standstills or other failures in the manufacturing process trigger an instant visual signal or email notification to the staff in charge, so the problem can be analyzed and its root cause identified without further delay. This allows for greater transparency and better communication, ensuring a maximum efficiency of manufacturing processes and improved planning reliability. Furthermore, detailed reportsboth for work-in-progress items and for defined time periods in the pastare available to analyze and compare various aspects of production data against plan. Production processes can thus be systematically monitored and optimized. Weaknesses or internal losses can be identified in a timely manner and, at the same time, Ubisense Smart Factory System provides the basis for a real-time evaluation of planned processes or changes in the production process.

Ubisense Smart Factory System now ensures that the current production status of components in Germany, France and Great Britain can be tracked by staff in Toulouse at any time. Furthermore, the system provides valuable analysis tools that help to progressively evaluate and optimize Airbus assembly processes. Whereas before, data on the progress of A380 components in assembly had to be recorded manually, the system now provides the relevant information automatically and in real-time. This innovative tracking solution is accurate right down to one meter and close to 100 per cent reliable. At the Hamburg, Saint-Nazaire and Broughton sites, Ubisense sensors were installed above the relevant assembly areas and connected to a standard LAN. Components are identified using small transmitters known as tags, which are attached to them before the assembly process begins. The tags transmit unique ID numbers that are automatically linked to the correspond-

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