Investigating rate increase in aerospace factory by simulation of material flow operations

The main challenge aerospace industries are facing in recent times has been triggered by the remarkable increase in commercial aircraft demand. To address this challenge, aircraft manufacturers need to explore ways to increase capacity and workflow through process optimisation and automation. This study focusses on the optimisation of component flow and inventory during the assembly of the A320 Family wings’ at Airbus (Broughton, UK) plant through Discrete Event Simulation (DES).

This research measured the likely impact of future changes in the wing assembly process, using simulation by: mapping of component flow from delivery to the point of use, simulation of current logistics scenario (AS-IS), simulation of future logistics scenarios (TO-BE) that include proposed changes for optimising flow and managing capacity surge, and testing and validation of mapping and simulation. The developed DES model demonstrated the impact of changes planned to be implemented by showing a considerable increase in production capacity growth, by achieving a target of 50% increase of aircraft rate/month within one year. It also highlighted the main problems causing blockages and other non-value activities in the process.