BROUGHTON, WALES : A long black digital panel on the wall of an 18-metre long plant flashes a message in red: ''More than 100 lessons have been learned ...''
Virtual reality: This digital mock-up unit allows Airbus engineers to see inside the A350 wings, practically from any angle and in great detail. The A350 (inset) is Airbus’s response to Boeing’s B787. Both are next generation mid-size long-range wide-body jets that are quieter and more fuel-efficient than their predecessors.
The line serves to underscore the usefulness of Demobox 2, a 50-million demonstrator that helps engineers at Airbus' Broughton plant know how best to physically build wings for the forthcoming A350 XWB jet.
Another site nearby houses a mini-theatre that shows a 3D computer simulation that allows viewers wearing 3D glasses to see inside the wing box.
This digital mock-up and its associated tooling are being used to train manufacturing engineers, operators, process planners and logistics people on how to work on the wing.
The 10-billion A350 programme is Airbus' attempt not to repeat the mistakes that earlier plagued the launch of its A380 superjumbo.
The A380, the world's largest commercial aircraft, began service in late 2007, two-and-a-half years overdue and with a huge cost overrun due to technical problems and management errors.
Executives of the European planemaker, a unit of European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co (EADS), said they have learned their lessons.
''We do focus on early maturity and risk mitigation'', for the A350 and its systems, said Francois Caudron, Airbus's vice-president for customer and business programme development, at a press briefing in Broughton.
The demonstrators help avoid delays in the A350 programme, according to Alain de Zotti, the A350 XWB deputy chief engineer.
Airbus executives said development of the A350, launched in 2005, is on track and unlikely to face delays as the firm is doing its best to stay on schedule.
Airbus still intends to deliver the first A350 to Qatar Airways in mid-2013.
Akbar al Baker, chief executive of Qatar Airways, which ordered 80 A350s, recently sounded confidence about Airbus' ability to meet the delivery timetable when he said even if there were delays, they would be ''just a few months''.
The current schedule envisages final assembly of the A350 at the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France, starting in the third quarter of 2011, with its first flight tabled for 2012.
Construction of a final assembly hangar for the A350 in Toulouse is underway. The wing assembly plant in Broughton is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, work on different parts of the long-range mid-size wide-body aircraft by contractors and suppliers in many parts of the world are also in progress, Airbus said.
Airbus has secured 530 orders for the A350 from 33 customers, including Bangkok Airways which has ordered four of the new jets.
The jetliner was designed to compete with Boeing's hot-selling 787 ''Dreamliner'', which is running more than two years behind schedule.
The US planemaker has already received more than 850 orders for the jet that will be largely made of composite materials.
The A350 will be the first Airbus with both fuselage and wing structures made largely of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic.
Airbus claims the A350 will be fuel efficient, with up to 8% lower operating costs than the B787.
Airbus sees demand for 5,000 aircraft in the 250 to 300 seat category over the next two decades, a segment that includes the A350 and B787.
After the debut of the 314-seater A350-900 in 2013, the European company plans to follow it with the 270-seat A350-800 in 2014.
An even larger variant with 350 seats, the A350-1000, is scheduled to enter service in late 2015, according to Airbus.
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