JUSTIN WASTNAGE / MUNICH
Whatever the final fate of Fairchild Dornier, its state-of-the-art facilities in Oberphaffenhofen, outside Munich, could play a crucial role.
A combination of Second World War hangars and brand new structures, the 270ha (666 acre) site offers investors a chance to acquire some of the latest labour-saving machinery and tooling at a knock-down price - and avoid the industrial relations strife its introduction would cause at their own plants.
By the time it merged with Fairchild, Dornier's plans to build a 70-seat regional jet were well advanced. But it needed a lot of money to acquire the level of sophisticated automated production machinery it envisaged. Fairchild was able to offer marketing know-how and, more importantly, access to US investors. In 2000, a deal was reached with two such streams of finance, German bank Allianz and US institutional investors, Clayton, Dubillier & Rice, who between them recapitalised Fairchild Dornier by $1.2 billion to get the first 728 to roll-out.
Hall 360 houses 728 production, and construction of the 16,000m2 (172,000ft2) hangar and a smaller building connected to it started in October. Although building work has been suspended, its cost is small compared to outlay for machinery. Indeed, only $200 million of the re-capitalisation has gone towards the new structures and the salaries of 3,700 loyal "Dorniana" engineers, who will be under-employed until the programme moves into serial production.
Of the remaining $1 billion, 90% has been taken up by equipment costs, much of which is unique to Fairchild Dornier. Netherlands heavy machinery company Brötje, for example, developed the aircraft fuselage automatic riveting machine, specifically for Fairchild Dornier, at a cost of €6.4 million ($5.7 million). The vast machine reduces the time per rivet by 50% to 7s. By 2008, the firm estimates it could produce 10 fuselage sections per week. Also, the machine only requires one worker to supervise it, rather than a 10-man team of riveters. These factors led to Fairchild Dornier winning the subcontract from Airbus for its centre fuselage and bulkheads.
Similarly, the automated positioning system used by Fairchild Dornier to mate the EADS Casa-produced wing will save time. Plano, Texas-based Advanced Integration Technology developed the laser alignment machine, which compares original design data with the position of tiny mirrors mounted on each aircraft part, to mate to within 20µm of accuracy in a tenth the time taken by the usual 10-man procedure.
It is the company's decision to produce a full scale cabling and systems simulator, an iron bird, that promises to be the biggest time saver. The fully operable integrated avionics simulator has "flown" more than 1,000h since 1999, testing hydraulics, landing gear and wing flaps. "We can do manoeuvres we could not do in real life for safety reasons," says Christian Seyffert, iron bird programme manager. "Without this rig, the aircraft would have had to undergo at least nine months more flight testing," he adds.
Fairchild Dornier hopes that any investor will buy the company as a going concern rather than let it be sold as assets. Earlier this month, the company retreated to Oberphaffenhofen, reducing its US operations by consolidating its sales and marketing operations to Germany.
Whatever happens Oberphaffenhofen will be a major asset to any new investor's portfolio.
Source: Flight International
