No missing bolts: a glimpse into China’s C919 smart factory

Following several high-profile aeronautical production quality lapses in recent years, including a door falling off mid-flight and tooling left inside aircraft, the last thing any plane manufacturer wants is a missing bolt or any oversight that slips through manual checks.

Enter the futuristic assembly line of C919, China’s first domestically developed large passenger jet.

Leveraging a groundbreaking 5G-enabled industrial network system, the C919 smart mega factory in Shanghai is setting a new standard for aircraft manufacturing integrity, ensuring that all the parts, tools and technicians are monitored in real time.

At the heart of this powerful surveillance system is a “field-level” industrial network developed by researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in collaboration with Comac (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China).

This network integrates 5G wireless connectivity with time-sensitive networking to create a hybrid communication backbone that connects every sensor, robot, tool and worker across the final assembly line, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Automatica Sinica in August.

Unlike conventional factory networks that separate data collection, communication and control, the Chinese system unifies them into a single, intelligent loop – a concept known as sensing-transmission-control integration.

  

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