Research Paper on "Airbus a 350 Aircraft"

Research Paper 11 pages (3772 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

production and procurement management of the Airbus A-350 family of airliners. The paper describes the mechanical differences in the three variants of the A350 aircrafts with detailed descriptions of the production and procurement management involved in this program. An explanation on how Airbus intends to achieve its purpose of developing a more efficient and less weightier aircraft is also a topic in this paper. Furthermore, the paper examines the decision by Airbus to award most of the major contracts to U.S. companies. This decision is not only beneficial in the production of this airliners but has also raised some supply chain issues that Airbus has had to contend with. As part of an enhanced production and procurement management by Airbus, I also describe the lessons Airbus has learned from the A380 fiasco and conclude with recommendations.

350 Aircraft, direct and indirect procurement, supply chain management, aircraft production and lessons learned.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Aircraft Mission Summary

Aircraft Production

Cost and Schedule

Procurement Management

Supply Chain Issues

Production and Procurement Management Lessons

Summary

References

Introduction:

Airbus is the European aircraft manufacturer of Airbus A350 which is a not only a medium size and long-range aircraft but also a wide-body family of aircrafts. In addition to being manufactured to contend with the Boeing 777 and 787 aircrafts, the Airbus A-350 will be the first aircraft developed by Airbus that has fuselage and wing structures made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. As compared to Boeing 787, the aircraft is expected to be of a lower operating cost and more fuel-efficient according to the claims of Airbus. With the first flight expected to be in 2012 followed by an introduction in 2013, its launch customer will be Qatar Airways that has ordered eighty of all the three A-350 airliner family. The development cost of all the three variants of Airbus A-350 is expected to be approximately U.S.$15 billion.

Aircraft Mission Summary:

The Airbus A-350 airline family is made up of three variants of mid-size, long-range and wide-body aircrafts. These three variants of the Airbus A-350 airline family are the A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1000 carrying 270, 314 and 350 passengers respectively. Since the commencement of the development and manufacturing process, the programme has been moving on well and on course. In fact, by the end of 2008, the programme had secured over four hundred firm orders from 29 customers ("Airbus Letter," 2008).

The production of the Airbus A350 airliners is because of a number of reasons that pushed Airbus to consider manufacturing and developing the aircrafts. One of the major reasons that contributed to the commencement of this programme was the quest of Airbus to provide a market competitor that would shape the future of air travel. The aircraft mission is to provide a new generation of aircrafts that would among other things meet the markets requirements. Passenger comfort, size, the environment, revenue generation and range are some of the various market requirements that the manufacture of Airbus A350 is designed to meet.

It is widely believed that one of the reasons why Airbus considered the development of Airbus A350 airliners was in response to the production of Boeing 787. Boeing had embarked on the project of developing the 787 aircraft in efforts to lower operating costs. While the Boeing 787 aircraft had 20% lower fuel consumption than the previous 767 aircraft, it caused a serious threat to Airbus 330. Airbus was then forced to design a new aircraft known as the A350 that incorporated enhanced aerodynamics and engines among other things. The initial version of the Airbus A350 was largely considered as an apparent semblance of the A330 because of some major features such as fuselage assembly and cross-section.

Instead of choosing a composite fuselage, Airbus settled for aluminum lithium claiming that it's resistant to ramp damage while maintaining the same fuselage cross-section and assembly of A330. This move was quickly criticized by observers forcing Airbus to take a significant review of its A350 concept. Additionally, the decision to maintain he same fuselage cross-section and assembly of A330 was also criticized by the leaders of Airbus' two largest customers. During this period, various international airline companies were ordering Boeing 787 instead of the Airbus A350 because of its flaws in design.

After this major review, Airbus decided to embark on a major development of A350 that would cost billions of dollars. The development of the airline that includes new generation aircrafts was embarked on to counter criticisms and satisfy the demands of customers. The new design of Airbus A350 incorporates a superior fuselage cross-section and has the ability to hold ten passengers per row. With the aircraft mission being to provide a market competitor while meeting market demands, the new design has been ordered by several airline companies. Actually, this new design of Airbus A350 is larger and better than Boeing 777 and 787 aircrafts.

Aircraft Production:

The main performance goal of the Airbus A350 Aircraft designers is to produce an aircraft that is between 15% and 20% more efficient as compared to the current models. The efficiency of the design is based on operating costs as well as fuel burn. The production of this design has necessitated the consideration of the number of new all-electronic technologies that will be included in the aircraft. The inclusion of these new all-electronic technologies is for the purposes of improving the performance of sub-system while reducing weight. In order for Airbus to achieve its purpose of designing more efficient aircrafts the use of new-generation engines is necessary in the production process. In fact, aircrafts that are up to 20% percent efficient than the current ones can be produced by the exploitation of new-generation engines among other necessary design requirements.

According to the current research rates, the replacement of the existing airliner hydraulic controls with electric controls can be possibly achieved by 2013. It is expected that established electric technologies for controlling several activities will be ready by then. Some of the things that can be controlled by mature electronic technologies include lighting, wing anti-ice protection, landing gear actuation systems, environmental control system, cockpit instrumentation and control-surface. However, not all of these replacement programs of hydraulic controls with electric controls are ready for the production of Airbus A350 Aircraft. Actually, Airbus has been fairly unadventurous in its implementation of these electronic systems in the production of Airbus A350. An example of the systems that Airbus is fairly conservative in adopting is the environmental control system in which the company has maintained in production of A350 is an environmental control system that is bleed-air-based. This environmental control system has features such as the bleed off-takes in the engine's low pressure stages. Due to the low temperature flow during the engine low pressure stages, there is removal of pre-coolers and specific fuel consumption. Some of the technologies that were developed for Airbus A380 aircraft will be used in the production of Airbus A350 aircraft which will have analogous cockpit and systems layout ("The Airbus A350 XWB," 2009).

As mentioned earlier, there are three variations of the A350 airliner family with the first variant scheduled to go into service in 2013. The next two variants of the A350 airliner family are scheduled to go into service in 2014 and 2015 respectively. As the development of this airliner family continues, there are some key designs in the following systems & #8230;.

Fuselage:

In contrast to the previous aircrafts of Airbus, the new fuselage design of the Airbus A350 will have a steady width from the first to the forth door. This invariable fuselage width from door 1 to door 4 is for the purpose of providing maximum functional volume. In addition to this constant width, the fuselage cross-section will have the highest outer diameter unlike the fuselage cross-sections of Airbus A330 and A340. Additionally, the cabin's interior diameter will be wider at an armrest level as compared to the cabin's internal diameters of Boeing 777 and 787 airlines.

Engines:

Instead of bleed less design the production of Airbus A350 will include the further development of complete bleed air system on the engines as confirmed by Airbus airline. A new variation of the Trent engine will be supplied by Rolls-Royce to be used in the production of Airbus A350. These new variations of Trent engine family consist of two basic engines that will be used to power the three variants of Airbus A350 airliner family. In addition to being based on the highly developed of Trent 900 and Trent 1000 engines, the Trent XWB engine will have a fan diameter of three meters.

One of the variants of the Trent XWB engine i.e. The higher rating engine will have some changes to the fan module and some enhancements in temperatures. The alterations in the fan module include a new fan blade configuration and ability to run a little faster. On the other hand, the increases in temperatures are due to the technologies of new materials brought by its research programs. In… READ MORE

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