Mr Blandin said one of the challenges for Broughton is to keep pace with the demands of the company’s A320 assembly lines in Toulouse, Hamburg, Alabama and China, while constantly honing the production process for what remains a traditional, metal wing.
He said: “We will see a level of improvement and a better efficiency on the new production line in terms of how we put the product together.”
Airbus has already taken steps to increase A320 wing capacity at Broughton’s original East Factory site, located across the runway from the former A380 building and dating to 1939, when it was built for the construction of Lancaster and Wellington bombers.
Production is running round the clock in a three-shift pattern and Airbus has taken steps to compress each part of the manufacturing process in an effort to shave days off the six to seven weeks required to make a wing.
The last wholesale expansion of A320 manufacturing capabilities at Broughton came in 2016 with the opening of a new, fully automated production line alongside the existing one, which extended capacity by 26 aircraft wingsets a month to the current 63.
