Towards Thinking Manufacturing And Design Together: An Aeronautical Case Study

The construction of complex objects, such as an aircraft, requires the creation of a dedicated industrial system. By industrial system, we mean all the material and immaterial means used to manufacture the object (labour, machines, factories, etc.). Classically, the industrial system is specified when the aircraft design is already engaged. In other words, the specifications of the product are the requirements of the industrial system. This approach presents two major drawbacks: firstly, the industrial system can inherit blocking constraints that could be easily removed by changing the aircraft design, and secondly, both continue to evolve during the lifetime of the aircraft programme. In this paper, we address the problem of having a global view of design and manufacturing. Starting from an industrial case study, the Airbus A320 aircraft manufacturing, we proposed a model-based approach, firsts steps towards tools for specifying together and consistently the design of an aircraft and its manufacturing system.