A350 Composite Window Frames

When I joined the A350 program in 2018, my first major project was an upgrade of the window frames, the structure that provides extra strength around the holes cut out of the fuselage for cabin windows. At the time, the window frames were a mixture of less weight-efficient “L”-shaped composite parts and expensive, heavier titanium parts.

This project was to develop, build, test, and ramp up production of a more efficient set of “T”-shape window frames that would allow us to save a significant amount of cost and weight.

As the project leader, I initially worked with our Engineering team, Material and Process experts, and the frame supplier’s manufacturing team to make sure the design was producible and that the supplier understood all of the criteria and requirements. Once the design was finalized, we worked together to build test parts and ran them through a detailed test campaign to qualify the parts and ensure they were built to specification. Finally, I visited the supplier in France to assist with rate readiness and industrialization, making sure that they could produce enough parts at a high enough rate and quality to meet our factory’s production needs.

Throughout the project, I also worked with our Airbus customer to get paid for major milestones as we accomplished them. This led to us staying cash-positive for the entire duration of the project, as well as capturing a healthy margin on its completion.

This upgrade to the window frames saved over $30,000 per airplane, along with over 10kg of weight. This was also the change that allowed Airbus to install the electro-dimmable windows on the A350.