CASE STUDY Airbus Speeds CAD Design with WITNESS
Airbus has used WITNESS
simulation software to play a key role in the development of a massive £21 million surface treatment plant at its Broughton factory in the U.K. The plant is believed to be the biggest fully automated facility of its kind in the world. WITNESS was used to provide more than traditional “what if” simulation. An evolving sequence of models was built to optimise the layout and operation of the proposed plant. The
software was used in effect as an animated event-based CAD tool, and the contractor's working drawings were derived directly from the final model. According to Airbus, this is driving manufacturing simulation “to the limits.” Airbus’s plant at Broughton near Chester manufactures wings for the Airbus family of airliners, which is currently enjoying remarkable success. Every wing for every variant of the expanding Airbus family is built at Broughton. Faced with an accelerating demand for the current range, together with new models under development, Airbus decided to install a new anodic treatment plant to prevent the process from becoming a bottleneck to production. The anodising process is used to prevent corrosion in wing components such as spars, ribs, stringers, skins, and a variety of smaller components. The components are immersed in tanks of chromic acid and heavy electric currents are passed through them. This causes a protective oxide coating to be artificially grown onto the metal surface, sealing the underlying material against corrosion.
“We’re not simulating already designed objects. We're doing the first draft design within WITNESS, then passing it to the CAD guys saying, ‘we know this will work, now go flesh it out to produce the working drawings.’ ” - Jim Cruise Airbus Lanner Group Limited The Oaks, Clews Road, Redditch Worcestershire, B98 7ST, U.K. Phone: +44 (0) 1527 403400 Email: info@lanner.co.uk A irbus A erospace Facility Layout Optimisation
www.lanner.com
A ccelerated Facility Design
