Company Will Install Complete Integrated Assembly System For
Northrop Grumman
A contract from Northrop Grumman Corp worth over $100 million
for installation of an integrated assembly line for the F-35
Lightning II jet fighter program is the largest ever received by
the aerospace division of Sterling Heights, Michigan-based KUKA
System North America.
It's also believed to be the first time a major aerospace
manufacturer has contracted with a vendor to supply and install a
complete assembly line and underscores how major aerospace
companies are embracing large-scale automation.
The line, designed by the four-year-old aerospace division of
KUKA Systems North America in Clinton Township, Michigan, in close
collaboration with Northrup Grumman's engineering staff, will be
installed between 2010 and 2014, and enable Northrop Grumman to
achieve a production rate of one center fuselage per day for the
F-35 program. The US Department of Defense is committed to
acquiring more than 2,400 F-35s in three variants: the F-35A for
conventional land-based operations, F-35B with short takeoff and
vertical landing capability and F-35C for carrier-based operations.
Several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,
Italy and the Netherlands, are contributing development funds
towards the estimated $40-billion cost of the project. Lockheed
Martin Corp is prime contractor and Northrop Grumman a major
partner.
KUKA Systems' contract covers the supply, installation and
commissioning of all assembly tooling and equipment to manufacture
the F-35 center fuselage. That's over 500 tools required for 78
tool positions occupying 200,000 sq ft of floor space. KUKA Systems
is supplying some of its own KUKA Aerospace automation tools and
solutions as well as KUKA robots, the most widely used in the
aerospace industry. The company also will be sourcing equipment
from some of Northrop Grumman's regular suppliers on the US West
Coast and regular KUKA Systems vendors, particularly in
Michigan.
When completed, the center fuselage assembly line will represent
the culmination of many person years of development by KUKA Systems
and Northrup Grumman, working collaboratively, to design and
install an aircraft manufacturing line as a fully optimized system
rather than as a conglomeration of independent tooling stations.
"The contribution of Northrup Grumman's extremely talented,
dedicated team, working with our own great group, has been
instrumental in making this concept and design a reality," says
Robert Reno, Director Aerospace, KUKA Systems North America.
The contract leverages KUKA Systems' considerable expertise as a
leading automation supplier and systems integrator for the
automotive industry. "No major aerospace company has ever really
contracted a supplier like us to design and build an entire
integrated assembly line," says Reno. Typically large aerospace
manufacturers are their own integrators, bidding specific parts of
the assembly line from different suppliers and then integrating
them. "In this case, Northrop Grumman wanted the most efficient
process design layout to produce one center fuselage per day and
sought out our expertise in automation," says Reno.
"This really is a significant step for the industry, but for
KUKA Systems, it's just one of many integrated automation solutions
we're developing for improving the productivity and efficiency of
aircraft manufacturing."