Bombardier proclaimed that it has renovated over 9,000 m2 of its plant in Saint-Laurent to produce vital parts for its groundbreaking CSeries aircraft, which is slated for service in 2013.
The upgrades comprise new tooling, equipment and machinery as well as a complete automated moving line based on the new lean production principles for the assembling process. The cockpit and carbon-fibre aft fuselage are some of the major parts to be produced in the Saint-Laurent facility. At the plant, the cockpit will be assembled with the forward fuselage section produced by Shenyang Aircraft in China.
Bombardier will use Automated Fibre Placement methods to build the carbon-fibre composite aft fuselage and the pressure dome. The company will use Resin Transfer Infusion (RTI) technology to construct the composite CSeries aircraft wing at its Belfast facility.
The Saint-Laurent facility is the largest of the company’ plant in the Montreal region. It manufactures important structural components for the company’s Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft, Q400 NextGen and CRJ NextGen airliners, Global and Challenger business jets. The facility’s production development team is also accountable for designing and deploying the tooling for the CSeries aircraft’s final assembly facility located in Mirabel.