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By Jim Douglas |
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August 12, 2010 -
Northrop Grumman is responsible for the production of all center
fuselages for all three variants of the F-35: conventional takeoff and
landing (CTOL); short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL); and the carrier
variant. All F-35 center fuselages are currently being assembled in the
company's As recently as two years ago, the company, a principal and founding member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team, was delivering a center fuselage for this fifth generation, multi-role fighter to Lockheed Martin's final assembly facility in Fort Worth, Texas about once every 30 days. With this week's delivery of the center fuselage for the F-35 designated AF-14, however, that delivery interval has now dropped to just 10 days. And by early next year, the number is expected to drop to eight days. |
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"We're moving
steadily down the production learning curve, streamlining our processes
and increasing our workforce as we continue to transition from
delivering approximately two center fuselages per month to an eventual
rate of delivering one center fuselage per day," said Mark Tucker, vice
president and F-35 program manager for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace
Systems sector.
According to Mike
Jones, director of F-35 production operations for Northrop Grumman
Aerospace Systems, the steady drop in production interval ? the time
between center fuselage starts, or between center fuselage deliveries ?
can be attributed to the company's larger and increasingly skilled F-35
workforce, and to its more efficient utilization of center fuselage
production tools. "For the past year, we've been on a pretty consistent 12-day production interval cycle," said Jones. "Over the last month or so, during the latter phases of assembling the center fuselage for BF-12, an F-35B STOVL aircraft, however, we've transitioned to a 10 day production interval cycle to support Lockheed Martin's updated final assembly schedule. The delivery of AF-14 is the first center fuselage to reflect that new, lower production interval." |
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The shrinking
delivery interval has also been aided by the fact that Northrop
Grumman's F-35 touch-labor force has grown from about 65 employees two
years ago to more than 250 employees today, added Jones. That work force
is expected to reach 300 by the end of the year.
Over the longer
term, Northrop Grumman plans to reach the full production rate of
completing approximately one center fuselage per day using a new
integrated assembly line (IAL) currently being installed at its Palmdale
Manufacturing Center. Expected to begin operations in early 2011, the
IAL will feature automated guided vehicles that will simplify the
process currently used to move center fuselage structures from one
assembly station to the next. It is expected to help reduce F-35 program
costs, and improve the precision and overall quality of the center
fuselage production process. |
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