Airbus aims to increase A380 productivity with electrical wiring bracket plan

A multi-cultural, trans-national Airbus team has addressed one of the most complex issues affecting the A380 programme's ramp-up with an action plan that is expected to result in significant increases in production efficiency.

The plan - developed during a workshop in January - is reducing the time it takes to install brackets for the aircraft's electrical wiring harnesses, which will help meet delivery schedules for this flagship Airbus jetliner.

Using "lean production" techniques and principles, the workshop identified 41 proposals for action, along with a clear plan for implementing the improvements in installing the brackets - which can number as many as 60,000-80,000 on an A380. The actions were developed by a group of participants from Airbus' Engineering, Configuration Management, Manufacturing-Engineering, Manufacturing, Programmes and Quality functions.

This action plan is now being implemented across the appropriate Airbus production sites in France and Germany, and is expected to trim change requests for the brackets' installation by 30 per cent and reduce related non-quality and rework activity by 50 per cent.