JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #96 - April 2015 - 50

manufacturing
Focus
Finmeccanica/Alenia Aermacchi's key
milestones of the Boeing 787 programme:
- June 2003 - Boeing announces its intention to launch a new aircraft called 7E7.
- April 2004 - Boeing launches the 787
Dreamliner programme, announcing an
order for 50 aircraft by the Japanese ANA.
- September 2005 - Alenia and Boeing sign
a partnership as part of the 787
Dreamliner programme.
- April 2005 - Start of works for the building of Alenia's Monteiasi-Grottaglie plant.
- April 2006 - Start-up of production activities at the Monteiasi-Grottaglie plant.
- March 2007 - First delivery of 787
Dreamliner fuselage sections.
- April 2007 - Delivery of the first Boeing
787 horizontal stabiliser made at Alenia's
plant in Foggia.
- July 2007 - Roll-out in Seattle, USA, of the
first Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
- March 2008 - Successful tests performed
in Pomigliano D'Arco at "last load" on the

Boeing 787 Dreamliner horizontal
stabilizer.
- July 2008 - Positive result of a "breaking"
test on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
horizontal stabilizer.
- December 2009 - Maiden flight of the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
- September 2011 - First Boeing 787
Dreamliner delivered to the launch client
ANA.
- March 2012 - First fuselage section of
the Boeing 787 Dreamliner longer variant
produced in Monteiasi-Grottaglie.
- May 2012 - First landing of the 787
Dreamliner in Italy, by MonteiasiGrottaglie.
- October 2012 - Alenia Aermacchi achieves
the crucial milestone of one hundred 787
fuselage sections delivered to Boeing.
- July 2013 - 7 shipsets/month delivered.
- December 2013 - 9 shipsets/month
delivered.
- April 2014 - 11 shipsets/month delivered.

size to a 3,000-room hotel! The Foggia site
is dedicated to the production of carbon
composite primary structures. The 329,869
m² industrial site - 54,670 m² of which are
covered - employs about 930 workers and
is dedicated to composite parts for both
commercial and military applications. For
the 787, the Foggia facility manufactures
the carbon fibre horizontal stabilizer that
is the most complex and longest composite co-cured part currently flying on an
airplane. This proprietary technology for
horizontal stabilizers has been developed
by Alenia since its early applications on
AMX, ATR and, after the 787, on Bombardier C-Series .
With 320,000 m² of surface area, Pomigliano d'Arco (near Naples) is Alenia
Aermacchi's largest plant in South Italy. In
particular, engineering activities, laboratory
tests and specialized production of some
primary structure components for the 787
are performed in this multi-use facility.

The composite material

Grottaglie plant 787 assembly line

approximately 940 workers. The plant
manufactures two large mid-body sections
of the fuselage using, for the first time, a
patented by Boeing "one-piece barrel" technology and a highly automated production
process.
This unique patented technology works
with composites throughout the primary
structure of the aircraft. The MonteiasiGrottaglie industrial complex was designed
to address two rigorous production challenges. First, an expansive manufacturing

area able to accommodate its own structure
in a single building was required. The facility also needed to be located near an airport
providing services and infrastructures suitable for the Dreamlifter, the special cargo
version of the B747 developed by Boeing
for the purpose of transporting 787 Dreamliner components to Charleston, South
Carolina (USA). The building is made of
three aisles (measuring about 65,000 m²,
the size of 15 football fields) and includes
a modern clean room of approximately
175,000 m3. The facility is comparable in

50 jec composites magazine / No96 April 2015

The use of composite materials reduces
in service maintenance operations, as
composites are not affected by fatigue and
corrosion as the aluminium alloys used in
traditional aircraft manufacturing.
Although composite materials can cost
more than other materials, their reduced
weight, lower production and operating
costs, and very low percentage of material
waste in the manufacturing process (no
chemical and mechanical grinds/mills and
burrs) create significant convenience.
The raw composite material is represented
by a flexible thread made of thousands of
resin-impregnated micro-carbon fibers all
in one direction.
The process for producing a piece of composite material includes several phases.
The second phase involves an autoclave,
where the material is cured at the necessary temperatures and pressure needed to
obtain the mechanical properties for the
flight. n
More information:
www.aleniaaermacchi.it
http://www.aleniaaermacchi.it
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #96 - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #96 - April 2015
