ANN Is There For The Next Major Step Towards Delivering Eclipse
500 In Volume
On Wednesday, Eclipse Aviation hosted city and state leaders at
the dedication of its new Friction Stir Weld Center. Guests,
including ANN Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, toured the new
50,000 square foot facility, and witnessed a demonstration of
Eclipse's friction stir welding process. Construction of the new
facility, which is leased to Eclipse by Waterman, Inc. of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, began in November of 2002. The operation
is located in the Broadway Industrial Center on Albuquerque's
Southwest side and is now fully operational. Friction stir welding
is an advanced manufacturing process, which the company is the
first to use in the assembly of thin-gauge aluminum aircraft.
The new center houses Eclipse's friction stir welding equipment
and gantries, which are used to assemble most parts of the Eclipse
500 fuselage. It will also house the production assembly of the
fuselage pressure vessel for the Eclipse 500 jet. This newest
facility expands Eclipse's significant presence in Albuquerque,
joining the company's 90,000 square foot headquarters and 45,000
square foot Sunport 2 manufacturing facility. Eclipse's Friction
Stir Weld Center will be staffed by up to 150 employees and will
support manufacturing of up to four aircraft per day through 2008.
In 2009, Eclipse will move to Double Eagle II airport, where the
facilities will support assembly of 1,500 aircraft per year.
ANN's Campbell noted, "This is for real... over
the course of an extensive private briefing by Eclipse's President
Vern Raburn, we're more convinced than ever that the Eclipse 500
project comprises the true leading edge in GA manufacturing and
development efforts." Raburn showed ANN the strengths and
weaknesses of friction stir welding technology, which Eclipse uses
selectively to build this next generation bizjet. "In those
applications where FSW is applicable, we get a stronger product in
far less time and at far less cost. " says Raburn. A number of
demonstrations revealed the "beyond-the-par" efforts conducted by
Eclipse to build an aircraft that meets or beats conventional
industry tolerances and precision standards... including laser
tracking technology that produces measurements and indices that are
well beyond anything we've seen in the GA business. The only other
places we've seen this level of manufacturing sophistication has
been at plants occupied by Boeing, Lockheed, and the
like....
Community support for Eclipse reveals a pretty
dedicated local fan club. "The opening of this facility marks
another significant milestone for Eclipse and the City of
Albuquerque," said Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. "The city
has always supported the Eclipse vision and is excited to watch the
company mature into an aviation leader. We look forward to
continuing to help drive Eclipse's growth, which will result in
more high-wage jobs in our community."
"Our pioneering work in friction stir welding dramatically
accelerates traditional aircraft manufacturing cycle times,
enabling us to produce the Eclipse 500 more quickly and cost
effectively than any small jet in history," said Vern Raburn,
president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. "The opening of our Friction
Stir Weld facility is a critical milestone as we progress rapidly
towards our goal of manufacturing this innovative aircraft in high
volumes, and at a groundbreaking level of price/performance."
Friction stir welding is highly automated and significantly
faster than other structural joining processes. It enables a
drastic reduction in aircraft assembly time and eliminates the need
for thousands of rivets, resulting in reduced assembly costs,
better quality joining and stronger, lighter joints. Eclipse
Aviation claims its friction stir welding specification is
attracting the attention and commitment of respected aviation
industry leaders like Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), which recently
announced its intention to license Eclipse's friction stir welding
process for use in the Eclipse 500 wing assemblies as well as other
potential applications within FHI's manufacturing operations.