Safran turbine blade production automated
Safran Helicopter Engines has commenced full manufacture of its turbine blades on a new automated production line, the company announced on 1 December.
Every turbine blade in the company’s product line will be manufactured on the line, which uses technologies to cut production times by 50 percent.
The new production line has a 900 square metre footprint, with robots and automated cells capable of performing every process - milling, polishing, etching, 3-D control, and surface finishing - from raw material through to finished, ready-to-assemble turbine airfoil.
The line can produce more than 100,000 airfoils a year. Turbine blades are among the most complex parts in an aero-engine to produce. Designed to sustain high temperature and constraints, their manufacturing tolerance is measured in microns.
Laurent Mazoué, Safran Helicopter Engines EVP operations, said the new line marks a new step in the company’s ‘factory of future’ strategy which will maintain manufacturing capacity at a world-class level.
He said: ‘The automated and robotized production line will also greatly improve our competitivity and manufacturing agility and contribute to a high level of customer satisfaction. The skills and expertise of our teams, a key element in this project, will also be transformed.’
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