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Aerostructures assembly (ASA) is a vital process in any aircraft production phase that integrates individual detail parts, sub-assemblies, major assemblies, components, and systems into a final deliverable, a completed aircraft structure fit for flight. ASA in an aircraft’s entire product life cycle represents more than half the cost and time that is a significant portion of the total aircraft production cost. ASA depends on highly skilled manual labor work across the global aerospace supply chain for various assembly processes and subprocesses required for assembling detail parts into sub-assemblies and components to achieve the design intent of the load-carrying aerostructure that is airworthy for the complete operational cycle till disposal of an aircraft. The assembly processes can significantly impact quality, safety, and reliability and can affect an aircraft structure’s performance and design intent.

The selection of aircraft consumable materials in aerospace manufacturing and assembly processes is a major customer design data-driven process, which is designed and developed early at the product design stages. With the rapid improvements in the aerospace manufacturing and assembly industry, these consumable material sources are prone to both obsolescence and counterfeit risks. Thus, aircraft design teams must carefully identify the selection of these materials and sources, which can provide products and services till the end of the product life cycle, which, if not, can impact both the design and the functional intent of the aircraft assembly. The study discusses the challenges faced in the current aerospace consumable industry and the opportunities for improvement in it.

Externally threaded fasteners such as HI-LOK™, HI-TIGUE™, and HI-LITE™ fasteners are used in Aerospace Industry for their light weight, high strength, and controlled preloaded designs. These pins are offered in a variety of head styles, materials, finishes, and coatings. The pins are easily installed from one side, by one person, and quietly without the conventional riveting noise. In the design specifications of these pins, there is a radius R provided under the head which is to be accounted during manufacturing. The head radius, R comes with a manufacturing tolerance of 0.015 to 0.025 inch for standard sizes of 5/32 inch and 0.020 to 0.030 inch for higher sizes for protruding heads and similarly vary from 0.020 to 0.030 inch for 5/32-inch flush head style. As a general assembly practice, it is essential to deburr the edge of the holes to accommodate the head radius of the pins.

In Today’s World, Every Manufacturing and Service Industry aims in providing the Highest Quality of Products and Service at the lowest Competitive Cost and timely delivery to its Customers. The Discrete Aerospace Manufacturing and Assembly industry is taking initiatives to implement the Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (PFMEA) tool for its critical Aerospace Manufacturing and Assembly suppliers, by implementing Aerospace Standards, in an effort to create a synergy between the End user customers, Original Equipment manufacturers and the suppliers, for ensuring increased safety, quality, reliability for the Aircraft parts and components produced by them. The main aim is to use this concept as a Process Risk Management tool for Identification, Assessment, Mitigation, Control and Prevention of risks associated with Designs and Manufacturing.

The aerospace industry had recently initiated the journey towards the transition to the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) process, for the manufacturing and assembly process of their products in their supply chain, aiming to continually meet the rising delivery demand of the global aerospace industry and improve the quality and costs of current products and services. Of the various APQP process elements and requirements, one specific requirement is the application of Design For Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA®) guidelines, early in the product design and development phase, aiming to design, develop, and analyze the designs for effective and efficient product realization. These guidelines, though widely used, are fairly new for the aerospace industry, and there is no standard framework readily available to aerospace organizations for the successful deployment of these guidelines in the Aerospace APQP process.