Analysis of Operational Quality Practices in Airbus Single-Aisle and Widebody HTP Production Lines: Proposals for Improvement through Digitalization and Strategic Process Optimization

Operational safety and customer satisfaction are of paramount importance to Airbus, driving the company’s unwavering commitment to product quality. Considering the current product demand and available new technologies, Airbus is constantly adapting to provide more and better products. This study aims to analyze the operational quality processes performed within the Horizontal Tail Plane (HTP) production lines across Airbus’s Single Aisle and Wide-body programs in order to propose effective improvement plans and optimize existing procedures. The approach begins with a top-down analysis, detailing all tasks across the different lines, considering not only regulatory standards but also the work performed by personnel on the shop floor. This is followed by a bottom-up approach, moving from specific tasks to the overall process. With these two views, improvement plans and a potential resource allocation strategy are proposed to achieve full optimization. This standarization and digitalization of processes aim not only to enhance operational performance and consistency but also to lay the groundwork for greater flexibility and better adaptation of personnel across different lines, hence it will reinforce future improvements in operational efficiency, product quality and safety standards at Airbus.