European manufacturer wants bigger role in aircraft customisation and innovation using dedicated technical facility
Airbus is taking a more direct role in the management of aircraft customisation with the creation of an integrated centre of excellence, based at its Hamburg Finkenwerder plant. The move should give it more effective control of buyer-furnished equipment (BFE) such as in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems, as Airbus looks to take the initiative in cabin design and innovation.
Finkenwerder has long been established as Airbus's cabin installation centre where customisation of A320 family aircraft is undertaken, and it will begin equipping A380 cabins there later this year. The formal creation of a "cabin and cargo customisation centre of excellence" began in July last year, according to the division's senior vice-president Rudiger Fuchs. "Airbus will offer complete cabin solutions," he says.
The new division pulls together 16 former organisations, says Fuchs. It employs 3,000 people operating across five sites in Germany and France, and includes two recently acquired German companies, Aircabin and KID-Systeme. "We are in the process of integrating them into Airbus Deutschland – industrially it is done, and will be completed legally at the end of March," he says.
KID, based in Buxtehude, specialises in cabin management systems – the "brain" behind all cabin functions, which Fuchs says is becoming increasingly important as the level of cabin technology increases. Aircabin, located in Laupheim, designs and produces cabin interior fittings and crew rest compartments. Other participants include the Airbus plant in Toulouse, where customer definition is undertaken and the mock-up centre is located; and the Bremen division, which deals with cargo systems.
Although Airbus has no plans to get into the IFE business, Fuchs says that it is seeking closer ties with suppliers because "when it goes wrong, the customer's perception is that it is the Airbus that has gone wrong".
Dr Rainer Casdorff, who is head of Airbus's cabin test centre, says the manufacturer has to "increase our influence on BFE suppliers. The reliability of cabin systems is as important from a business point of view as, say, the flight control system is to safety."
Fuchs says that, to achieve a significant reduction in lead times and decrease in costs for cabin systems, a "more robust industrial process" is needed from Airbus. He adds that it is the intention "to be a step ahead and proposing ideas to our customers". To support this, Airbus is expanding its Finkenwerder infrastructure with a technology centre to develop innovations.
Fuchs says that Airbus has recruited an executive from a major airline who will join in April to help it understand the market better. The company is about to start using a full-motion cabin simulator at Finkenwerder to test cabin innovations alongside the technology centre. The initial drive behind the initiative is for new-build aircraft, but Fuchs says Airbus intends to look at whether to enter the aftermarket or upgrade business.
MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/HAMBURG FINKENWERDER
Source: Flight International
