The LEAP 1X engines, installed notably on the Airbus A320 NEO (LEAP 1A) and Boeing 737 MAX (LEAP 1B), are made with parts that must be impeccable with regard to cleanliness. “When our customer asked us to deliver parts with a new cleanliness criterion, we thought that we just had to adapt our manufacturing process in order to achieve this target. But we soon realised that keeping the number of particles in the workshop to a minimum was not easy at all”, remembers Christel Vernizeau, Manufacturing Methods Manager with Eaton Aerospace. “So we asked Cetim to help us with this course of action”. A one day audit made it possible to see how the parts are manufactured and handled, from the organisation of the in-house logistic flows to the final storage, and also during each intermediate production step. The reports of the particulate cleanliness inspections carried out by Eaton on the samples were also analysed. Cetim then gave its conclusions and the various actions to be implemented, from the most simple to the most complex ones, and this allowed priorities
to be determined. At the same time, several Eaton employees were trained in the problems relating to particulate cleanliness and in the handling rules.
Gradual implementation
The actions recommended were gradually implemented: step-by-step cleaning of the parts, spray rinsing instead of immersion rinsing, change of materials for the tools that generate microscopic chips, organisation of the air flows in the assembly clean room, selection of suitable equipment for the operators, etc. “We have learned a lot thanks to Cetim. The actions implemented rapidly yielded fruitful results: in two months, our parts complied with our customer’s cleanliness requirements. And since then, we have not found any nonconformities”, says Christel Vernizeau.
