Assembly in Action: Laser Tracking Facilitates Aerospace Assembly
Created through a merger of the helicopter divisions of Aerospatiale-matra (Paris) and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Munich, Germany), Eurocopter (Marignane, France) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Company (Schiphol Rijk, The Netherlands) and one of the world's leading helicopter manufacturers. In addition, the company manufacturers a number of components for commercial airplane manufacturer Airbus. For example, Eurocopter is involved in Airbus' ongoing A380 super-jumbo aircraft program.
Recently, the company implemented a pair of portable laser tracker measurement systems from Leica Geosystems (Norcross, GA) to improve its quality assurance program and technical measurement procedures. Today, the company uses the systems on everything from A380 component measurements to fabricating jigs for helicopter fuselage final assembly.