MOBILE, AL—Broetje Automation, a supplier of automated machinery for aircraft assembly, has opened a facility here to support Airbus’ new assembly plant.
SEATTLE—Boeing has been granted a patent for a fully automated assembly system for making airplane fuselages. The system consists of six assembly cells, a feeder line, and a robot holding area.
PALMDALE, CA—Assemblers at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s plant here recently started to use an optical projection system to build the center fuselage of the F-35 Lighting II fighter jet. The facility was the recipient of ASSEMBLY’s 2013 Assembly Plant of the Year award.
SANTA ANA, CA—Ascent Aerospace has been awarded a contract to design and build the final assembly station for the Airbus Beluga XL jet. The Beluga is an A330 modified to transport large aerostructure components from Airbus supplier facilities.
SEATTLE—Boeing and the University of Washington are taking their collaboration to greater heights with a new campus research center where doctoral engineering students, UW professors and Boeing engineers will work side by side on projects focused on automating aircraft assembly processes.
EVERETT, WA—Boeing may deploy robots on its airplane assembly lines as early as next year. The company has been testing its Fuselage Automated Upright Build technology in secret over the past year and has found success drilling rivet holes on 777 fuselages. Boeing believes the FAUB will improve workplace safety and production speed.
MUNICH, Germany—Researchers in Germany have developed a novel, snake-like robot capable of tightening bolts in even the most difficult-to-access cavities of an aircraft’s wing structure.
BERLIN—Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation have developed a mobile robot that can move along with aerospace workers and assist them as they assemble and test parts.
