SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS — Embraer has completely overhauled its final assembly operations for the E-170 and E-190 family of aircraft, switching from a slant assembly to a pulsing assembly line.
The now two-month-old horse shoe-shaped final assembly line hosts five indoor positions and a sixth that sees the aircraft move to the flight line in preparation for flight test.
Embraer says that an aircraft will move positions every two days, spending a total of ten days inside, with an additional two days outside before flying.
The original slant line, which previously hosted seven
fixed dock slant positions exclusively for E-190 and E-195 aircraft, now consolidates E-170
and E-175 operations into a single final assembly line for both families.
The new system seeks to removes critical path milestones, such as the
installation of interiors, engines and other key assembly tasks that could otherwise hold up the movement of the assembly line.
The horse shoe shaped assembly line eliminates the wing-to-body join process from the final assembly area. The mating of the wings to the fuselage is now done elsewhere at Embraer’s Sao Jose dos Campos facility.
After the wing-to-body join is complete, the aircraft arrive fully painted in preparation for systems installation, interior outfitting, engine installation and other pre-flight checks including power-on.
The new system, which the company says was approved in 2007, is part of
Embraer’s push to incorporate philosophies of lean manufacturing into
its aircraft assembly operations.
The company says that the Phenom 100 very light jet was the first Embraer
aircraft to incorporate this methods into its production plan from
day one.
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.