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F-18 Tour

Special Tour

2004 NASA SHARP Program

California State University, Los Angeles

Reported by: Tiffany Dinkins

F-18: Up Close and Personal

On Thursday, July 22, 2004, a selected group of Northrop Grumman Space Technology interns were able to travel down the street to Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems to see where the F-18 aircrafts were produced.

The tour began with a brief movie about the history and the capabilities of the F-18.  Then the tour proceeded to the building in which all the F-18 parts were built and put together.  The tour guide began with an explanation of what goes on in the facilities and procedures the company uses to make the jobs more efficient and productive.  The assembly line starts with raw material that eventually becomes components of the aircraft.  As the assembly line continues the F-18 aircraft begins to take shape.

Northrop Grumman Company has implemented a procedure that allows the jobs to be done by one person.  It allows the assembler of the part to also be the inspector of the part too.  This makes it possible for work to move along more quickly.  The company also has made receiving equipment much more efficient by providing work trays that provide an assembler with all possible work tools they need for a certain job.  With the help of vending machines, it makes it possible for assemblers to receive perishable tools with a touch of a button.

After the tour had completed in the F-18 assembly line, it then proceeded to the Fabrication and Process Development building.  This is the building in which the parts travel into during the assembly process.  The building houses the spray application and the autoclaves among other things.  In the building the engineers perform test on the applied composite material to assure that they are ready for flight.  Materials may come in this building several times during the assembly process.

At the conclusion of the tour, all of the interns came out of the experience with a better understanding of how well-rounded Northrop Grumman Company is.  The interns had the opportunity to see what machines protect the United States up close and personal.  This opportunity put into prospective the entire scope of Northrop Grumman technologies.

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