PALMDALE, Calif.—Northrop Grumman [NOC] says its recently introduced automated assembly line for building the fuselages for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has increased efficiencies across the three variants of the aircraft, but expects the production rate to dip following the Pentagon’s restructuring of the program earlier this year.
Northrop Grumman put the new process in place in March 2011 and the first F-35 fuselage produced under the integrated assembly line (IAL) at its Palmdale Manufacturing Center rolled off a year later. The IAL has reduced assembly hours by 15 percent for the Navy’s F-35C variant, by 37 percent by the Air Force’s F-35A variant, and by 58 percent on the version being bought by the Marine Corps. the F-35C, said Hank Reed, the company’s lead for business development and customer engagement for JSF.
The IAL brought automation to the process in part through the use of robotic drilling machines, and it eliminated the use of cranes to move parts, substituting them with what the company calls an automatic guided vehicle. The unmanned laser guided vehicle lifts assemblies up and delivers them to the next spot on the line, cutting out the manpower required to operate cranes while reducing the burden on the part caused by cranes, Reed said.
Northrop Grumman introduced the IAL with the help of Detroit-based KUKA Systems Corporation, which specializes in developing robotic assembly lines for the automotive industry. Northrop Grumman said it had not set up a new line for mass production since it began making the back portion of the fuselages for the Boeing [BA]-built F/A-18s more than 20 years ago, and realized it needed outside help to modernize its processes for providing F-35 fuselages for prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT].
Mike Jones, the director of production operations at the Palmdale Manufacturing Center, said the facility lost “a lot” of its senior tooling workforce when production of the B-2 bomber ended and since it began work on the F/A-18, and sought the help of KUKA.
“We came to the conclusion that it was not our core competency to solely take on building a brand new assembly line,” he said. “We wanted to bring in the right automation and the right skills outside.”
“We needed to make some changes on what we wanted to look like going forward,” he added. Reed said that on the previous line, which was known as system design and development (SDD), the “automation wasn’t there.”
Northrop Grumman has so far delivered more than 80 Joint Strike Fighter fuselages–more than half of which were delivered under the old process. Reed said the SDD line would produce a final fuselage assembly every seven days, while the new IAL is putting out one every five days at the Pentagon’s current buy rate. The IAL line has the potential to produce a complete fuselage on a daily basis once the F-35 goes into full production, he said.
The beleaguered F-35 program, however, is at least six years away from full production. The program has been plagued by massive cost overruns and delays.
The largest acquisition program in the Defense Department’s history, the Pentagon plans to procure 2,443 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps at an estimated cost of $395 billion–about $117 billion more than the expected cost five years ago.
Earlier this year, the Defense Department restructured the program for the third time, deferring the purchase of 179 planes over the next five years for an anticipated $15 billion in savings. That reduced number will slow Northrop Grumman’s fuselage production rate to one coming off the line every six days instead of the current five, Jones said.