Measurement-Assisted Assembly Applications on Airbus Final Assembly Lines

This paper describes the 'Measurement-Assisted Assembly' activities led by the Final Assembly Line unit at Airbus - Toulouse. These activities are meant to eliminate some of the problems associated with the conventional process of locating and positioning large airframe sub-assemblies during the final assembly process, like fuselage-to-fuselage or wing to fuselage junctions. All these activities include laser or photogrammetry subsystems, computer-aided measuring systems, Best-Fit optimization software, specific Graphical User Interface. The combination of these technologies offers: jigless assembly, faster assembly process, rework and waste reduction and many more advantages.