Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 58 No. 4 (December 2021)
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Introducing New MHIAEL Nagasaki Aero EngineComponents Plant and New Combustor CenterNagasaki Production Department
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries AeroEngines, Ltd.
+881-95-828-5094

To respond to increased production of aircraft engine parts due to strong aircraft demand,
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aero Engines, Ltd. (MHIAEL) completed construction of a new plant
for aircraft engine components in the Nagasaki area at the end of August 2020, marking thecompany’s first development of another base. As the “New Combustor Center” responsible for theproduction of combustor components for engines for narrow-body aircraft, which are produced inlarge numbers, this plant has finally started operation of some lines in January 2021 and started
shipping combustor assemblies in July. Figure 1 shows the first combustor shipping ceremony.
This report presents the Nagasaki Aero Engine Components Plant.

Figure 1

First combustor shipping ceremony|1. Plant overview
The new aero engine components plant was constructed to the south of the brick building of
the former Pattern Shop, which is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site among the “Sitesof Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution,” within the Akunoura district of Nagasaki Shipyard &Machinery Works in Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, the home of Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries’ inherited business. Figure 2 is a bird’s-eye view of the plant.
The plant has an area of 5,400 m2, 180 m from east to west, 30 m from north to south and thematerial receiving area, components manufacturing area, components assembly area andpacking/shipping area are located from the east side therein, which allows consistent production
flow from east to west. Welcoming customers visiting the plant, the PW1000G series engine is on
display at the west entrance of the plant. In addition, a dedicated visitors’ observation walkway has
been constructed on the 2nd floor, from which visitors can overlook the entire plant in a safe
environment. Figure 3 is a picture of the entrance to the plant and Figure 4 is the visitors’
observation walkway.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 58 No. 4 (December 2021)
2Figure 2

Bird’s-eye view of Nagasaki Aero Engine Components Plant

Figure 3

Entrance to plantFigure 4Visitors’ observation walkway

Based on our intention of establishing a plant that can meet the vigorous aircraft demand in a
firmly grounded manner with world-class productivity and initiative, in addition to the fact thatNagasaki is a place historically related to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the construction project of
the new aero engine components plant was promoted with the catchphrase “From the Past - To thePresent - To the Future.” Construction began in December 2019 and the building was completed at
the end of August 2020. Since then, the commencement of production has been carried out in aplanned manner, from carrying-in of various manufacturing equipment to test processing andmanufacturing approval. In January 2021, mass production of combustor components was started.
Since then, progress on the commencement of production has been steadily made and the shippingof combustor assemblies began in July. From now on, the complete production area will belaunched toward the end of 2021, with production throughout the entire plant commencing in 2022.

|2. Components manufactured
We are participating in a program for the PW1100G-JM engine installed in the A320neomanufactured by Airbus, which is the best-selling commercial aircraft, with our involvement inmaintenance, manufacturing and supplying components. The PW1100G-JM is a state-of-the-art
11-ton to 15-ton thrust class engine with improved environmental performance that was jointly
developed internationally by five manufacturers (including our company) in Japan, the United Statesand Germany. The new aero engine components plant constructed in Nagasaki manufactures thecombustor and combustor case, which can be said to be the heart of the engine. Figure 5 depicts theappearance of the A320neo and Figure 6 gives a cross-sectional view of the PW1100G-JM engine
and the components manufactured at the Nagasaki Aero Engine Components Plant.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 58 No. 4 (December 2021)
3Figure 5

Appearance of A320neo

Figure 6 Components manufactured at Nagasaki AeroEngine Components Plant

The combustor plays an important role in quickly mixing compressed air taken from thefore-stage compressor with fuel and burning the mixture and then sending high-temperature gas tothe subsequent turbine. It is one of the components that is exposed to the highest temperature
among all engine parts, so in addition to being made of a Ni-based heat-resistant alloy, it wasdesigned to withstand a high temperature environment. These measures include a heat resistantcoating on areas directly exposed to combustion, innumerable small diameter holes for taking in airfor cooling the vicinity and other features. In order to deal with the manufacture of suchcomponents, we have introduced coating equipment for incorporating the coating process (which
previously relied on overseas specialized manufacturers) into in-house production. We have also
introduced machine tools developed based on the latest high-speed laser cutting technology of theMitsubishi Heavy Industries Group and manufacturing has already commenced on a dedicated line
at the new plant.
On the other hand, the combustor case that surrounds the combustor is exposed to highpressure in addition to high temperatures and is required to have sufficient strength at suchtemperatures. Therefore, the combustor case is formed by machining a ring-shaped forged material.
This part is exposed to extremely harsh environments, so even small invisible scratches areunacceptable. Mass production of this part can be started only after repeating necessary preliminary
inspections, confirming that all the quality requirements are satisfied and obtaining manufacturing
approval from the customer. This part must be produced in a tightly controlled manufacturing
environment.

|3. Features of production line
In order to produce the components described in the previous section, the Nagasaki AeroEngine Components Plant has a dedicated production line for each component. The combustor
component-dedicated lines include one for producing the liners that form the inner and outer walls
and another for producing heat-resistant panels that are installed on the inner surface of thecombustion area. In addition, a dedicated line for producing combustor cases has also been
constructed, giving the plant a total of three major production line areas.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 58 No. 4 (December 2021)
4The production of combustor liners and heat-resistant panels requires various manufacturing
equipment for welding, heat treatment, coating, laser cutting, inspections, etc. At the new plant, allsuch equipment is placed roughly in a circle, which realizes a manufacturing flow that enables
components to be completed by moving around the production line while being handled by eachcomponent of manufacturing equipment.
On the other hand, for the production of combustor cases, which are formed by graduallymachining a material in several divided machining processes in order to suppress distortion during
processing as much as possible, a production line in which several pieces of machining equipment
for ensuring the required production capacity are arranged and automatic component/tool carrying
equipment for transferring workpieces between them is installed is provided. This line not only
maximizes equipment utilization by identifying vacant equipment and automatically mounting
workpieces and tools thereon, but can also be operated unattended at night and on holidays.
We are also proceeding with plans to further enhance quality control according to thecharacteristics of each component in the future. For example, since several dozen heat-resistantpanels are required for each combustor, their production quantity is large and the production
interval is set in seconds. For the production of such products, management from the perspective of
how to prevent nonconforming products is required. On the other hand, for combustor cases, thematerial cost of which is high and which require a lot of time for machining, management from theperspective of how to prevent problems caused by equipment and tool problems to prevent
nonconformities is important. For this new plant, we are also considering further advancing themanagement of these components, which will be carried out according to their characteristics, bymaking more advanced use of IoT and AI, which have already been adopted at our main plant(Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture).
The parts manufactured in this way are finally assembled into components to be delivered
such as combustors and combustor cases in the assembly area on the west side of the plant. The
assembled components are then shipped from the shipping area at the western end of the plant.
Since all components are required to be manufactured with extremely high accuracy and highprecision, the entire plant is controlled at a constant temperature. In addition, since the area for thefinal dimensional inspection of components requires even stricter environmental control, aninternal building has been set up inside the plant building to provide an environment for
high-precision quality inspection and quality control, realizing a plant where customers can orderthe production of aero engine parts with peace of mind.

|4. Future prospects
Despite being influenced somewhat by the COVID-19 disaster, demand for narrow-bodyaircraft that are widely used mainly on short-haul routes around the world—especially thebest-selling Airbus A320neo and the PW1100G-JM engine installed thereon—has mostlyrecovered. Furthermore, the growth curve of aircraft demand in general is expected to recover in a
few years to the state before the COVID-19 disaster. As such, we also plan to consider expanding
the Nagasaki Aero Engine Components Plant in preparation for a further increase in production.

|5. Future development
The application of this system is being promoted mainly in newly constructed plants. We
have also been working on the expansion of future application destinations and functions of thissystem, including at plants that have already been delivered and are in operation.