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The incorporation of split mandrel coldworking into a single- station, automated wing assembly machine advances the technical quality of automated production. Coldworking innovations, including the CMX process and new puller unit development, combined with new clamp-up technology, have eliminated the need for manual dissasembly and deburring, both costly and time consuming procedures. These advances in automation are illustrated in the development of a next-generation automated unit created for wing production of the Airbus A340-600 wide-body program. This paper describes the implementation of new fastener and coldworking technology that led to the development of this automated manufacturing system.

This paper examines the development of the split mandrel coldworking process. The process is an improvement of the established split sleeve method. While the split sleeve process made coldworking easy and cost-effective for the first time, the advanced split mandrel process is simpler, quicker, less expensive, and adaptable to applications unsuited for the split sleeve process. Military applications of the split mandrel process are discussed and an application case study is presented as an example.