Abstract:
In this document, the need for the design of a final assembly line concept for a small African
regional aircraft is addressed. The project sponsor needed the design of an assembly line
concept for the assembly of a new small regional commercial aircraft that needs to be
produced in high volumes, thus they sent out the student to do industry research to see how
other aircraft manufacturers around the world produce and assemble commercial aircraft for
the mass market. The student then started working on designing and testing his own design
concepts. The Assembly line concepts were designed based on various facilities planning
theories and techniques. These concepts where tested by using SIEMENS plant simulation
software provided by the project sponsor. The data used in the simulation models, such as
time studies, order arrivals etc. were based on industry research, past projects in the industry
and calculated estimates. These models where then tested and validated to see which option
would fit the company’s goals and needs best and provide them a concept from where to
start designing the highly detailed assembly line. Three concept layouts where explored that
was the most promising to fit the project sponsor’s needs: The Product family assembly layout
concept, the Moving assembly line layout concept and the Fixed position assembly layout
concept. These concepts all turned out to meet the requirements, however the moving
assembly line layout concept was the most promising one of them all. Further
recommendations would be to look at multiple fixed position assembly layouts in the short
term and a combination of the moving assembly line layout and the product family layout for
the long term.
