Quality gates

Abstract

Airbus wants to take measures to avoid any disruption causes in downstream aircraft assembly processes at its 11 production sites and four assembly lines. An increasing product design complexity, a global logistics network and aggressive ramp-up of new aircraft programs require an end-to-end strategy. As part of a continuous effort to improve its quality processes and to mitigate disruption at production plants and final assembly lines, Airbus has decided to boost competitiveness by introducing end-to-end Quality Gates as a key element of the Quality Management System. This enables to ensure the maturity of deliverables all along Airbus’ business processes, supporting industrial serial flow at all production and assembly steps. From design to delivery: every time an internal or external supplier delivers a design, part, component or a complete aircraft, the customer will naturally check whether all specifications are met. If not, actions are taken by the supplier.