Construction set to begin

As Airbus readies for the first concrete pour for its new A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., the company is empowering plant managers to make decisions to assure that its supply chain runs like clockwork. That's what Airbus North America President and CEO Barry Eccleston said May 8 during Aviation Week's Civil Aircraft Manufacturing Conference in Charlotte, N.C. The first concrete footings are to be poured next week for the plant, the fifth Airbus fifth facility in the U.S. but the first to assemble aircraft. It will be a carbon-copy of the A320 factory in Hamburg, Germany, mirroring the process used when the Tianjin, China, plant was built. (Source: Aviation Week, 05/09/13)