1551. Utilization of Mass Properties Data in the Development of Weapons Systems Manufacturing Direct Labor Requirements
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Paper
Abstract
The development of manufacturing direct labor man hour requirements for an aircraft weapons system
such as F-16 Fighting Falcon is dependent upon number of information sources such as Customer
requirements, program plans, historical cost data and ‘End Item’ Task descriptions. Task descriptions
at the Fort Worth Division of General Dynamics are prepared by the Engineering Department as Statements
of Work and by the Manufacturing Engineering function of tool engineering as Manufacturing plans. The
Engineering Statement of Work is basically a task description narrative supplemented by charts, graphs,
tables, weights and all other essential technical data.
The use and emphasis on Mass Properties Weights Data as a vital configuration definition source has
continued to increase throughout the production life of the F-16 Weapons System. Direct correlations of
airframe unit cost versus airframe unit weight have been developed for the initial full-scale flight
articles and have been maintained through all Engineering change proposal (ECP) type block changes to this
present time.
Today’s state-of-the-art in Mass Properties at the Fort Worth Division has benefitted from a number of
major weapons systems and subcontracts permitting substantial contributions towards improved configuration
definition. Mass Properties data is being utilized in numerous applications to develop new models,
accomplish comparative studies of model and Component Candidates, perform trade studies involving varying
materials mixes and develop change estimates to existing weapons systems.
The production department estimating function plans call for a continuing utilization of all of the
substantial configuration information routinely developed by Mass Properties engineering to expedite the
estimating process and improve sensitivity in the development of the labor hour requirements related to
all of the many variables such as materials mixes, flight profiles and missions.
