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REPORT - LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE TOULOUSE SAS

Big precision for big workpieces The air-conditioning of the cabin is very important for safety and comfort on board an aircraft. In order to ensure an optimal cabin climate, Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS develops, produces, distributes and maintains air-management systems for aviation. As a system producer among the world’s market leaders, the company is available with help and advice for the projects of its customers, which include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter producers, as well as airlines. Certain workpieces that are manufactured in Campsas, the production plant of Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS, are very big. To be able to load them into a DMC 100 U 5-axis milling center, Liebherr has acquired an EROWA Robot Dynamic 500. Production Manager Bernard Bonis explains why. EROWA: Monsieur Bonis, what kind of workpieces do you machine? Bernard Bonis: Basically they’re cast aluminum parts for the air-management systems of the Airbus types A320 and A380. They’re very big and have complicated and unbalanced shapes. Depending on the size of the workpieces, we fit them to fixtures on EROWA UPC pallets 320x320mm and on MTS pallets 700x700mm.

Previously, we manufactured the parts on two 4-axis machine tools. Now we work in mixed production on one single 5-axis production cell. The new machine is more flexible and faster and offers high precision combined with a larger working space. Such a production machine is intended to ensure optimal production in automated operation. And for what reasons did you opt for EROWA? We have been using various workpiece palletizing systems from EROWA for years: UPC and PC210. Now the MTS tooling system for bigger parts has been added. All these systems provide a very high and constant repeatability with very short set-up times.

REPORT - LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE TOULOUSE SAS

How much time did the acquisition procedure take, and what experiences did you have in the process? The new production cell, including Robot, loading station, the five multi-level frame magazines and the software of the EROWA Manufacturing Control process management system, was configured within about three weeks after delivery. Training on the new facility itself only took four days. Our four operators were able to run the machine and the Robot on their own very quickly. Did the software also prove successful? Very much so. To begin with, of course, we had to attune all the elements to each other and adapt the process since different tasks interact and work is done with two different palletizing systems. But this went without any major hitch. We’re extremely satisfied with the process management system. Thanks to EROWA Manufacturing Control, we’re able to ensure automated and flexible production and have an overview of all the process data at all times. How does the process work exactly? The parts to be machined are fitted to the fixtures on UPC and MTS pallets, after which the loading station deposits them in the Robot magazine. Each pallet is equipped with an EWIS™ identification chip. Thanks to this identification system, we’ve got an overview of all magazine positions and pallets.

And this works well? Is the whole process productive? Yes, it does work well. Since we’re able to replace two machines with this system, we’ve become more flexible, which is enormously important if we want to do justice to our customers’ increased production output. Also, process reliability has been boosted, and we need less time for follow-up checks and remachining. Are you thinking of extending the system in the near future? The Robot Dynamic 500 is capable of serving several machines, and it can also be extended. At the moment, this machine enables us to manage our order book very well. But who knows, we may have to put out much greater volumes one day, or new production technologies will be taken into consideration. In any case we’re convinced that we’re well prepared for the future with this solution from EROWA. LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE Toulouse SAS Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS, which is based in Toulouse in the south of France, is Liebherr’s competence center for airmanagement systems in aviation. Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS develops, distributes and maintains integrated systems for many significant aircraft programs worldwide. The company is part of the Liebherr Group, which is wholly owned and run by the Liebherr family.