Chapter 427: What is a design genius?
When Xu Cang took over Bombardier, Starei Warrick, head of Airbus's Americas region, flew overnight from Montreal to Toulouse, France with a thin document and handed it to the desk of Airbus CEO Heimrhein List.
The Airbus chief also attached great importance to Xu Cang's future plan for A350, and took time out to read the plan, which he thought was ridiculous.
Although according to the agreement with Nicholas Halliway of Shengming Fund, the leading direction of the A350 project is entirely decided by Xu Cang, it is after all a large aircraft bearing the Airbus name. You can't really let an outsider determine the main direction of the aircraft design. This is undoubtedly too much of a joke.
At the beginning, Airbus intended to trial-produce three different plans and then let Xu Cang choose. In name, it was Xu Cang who made the decision, but in fact, the choices were made within the scope of Airbus's plan, so they were not too outrageous.
This way, you can earn R&D funds for free without being too reckless, which is the best of both worlds.
However, not long ago, the regular fund payments from Shengming Fund were suddenly cut off, and Airbus could not contact Shengming Fund no matter what.
In terms of amount, Shengming Fund only paid one third of the original plan. In fact, Airbus intended to quietly swallow the money, which was a huge sum of several billion US dollars. However, the contract had already been signed, and Xu Cang knew about it, so it was difficult to conceal the method, so he gave up the idea.
However, the situation now is very embarrassing.
The money given by Shengming Fund is less than 3 billion US dollars, only one eighth of the A380 project funding. However, the A350 is expected to be a single-deck, twin-engine wide-body aircraft. Although it is not as large as the A380, it is definitely not a small project. The research funding of 3 billion US dollars is simply a joke.
According to past R&D experience, an aircraft project of this scale would require at least 10 billion US dollars in R&D funding, which is a bit too much.
In addition , Airbus itself is not in a good situation. Due to the delayed delivery of the A380, a large number of airlines that have booked the A380 have jointly filed a lawsuit against Airbus. Among these airlines is Saudi Arabian Airlines, which has the largest number of bookings. Airbus cannot do anything to such a big financial sponsor, so it can only handle the lawsuit in an impartial manner.
This kind of international lawsuit is not only costly, but the existence of the lawsuit itself is a continuous blow to the A380 project and even the reputation of Airbus itself.
Fortunately, Airbus still has some foundation due to the success of the A320 project, otherwise the A380 project would have been like the RB211 engine project to Rolls-Royce, which directly dragged Airbus down.
However, even if Airbus has a lot of blood, it is still weak after all this trouble and it is impossible to allocate additional budget to the A350 project. Therefore, the 3 billion US dollars is the entire R&D budget for the A350 project, not a penny more.
But the problem is that it is a joke to want to develop a new aircraft model with such a small amount of money, especially since the A350 project is competing against Boeing's Dreamliner B787.
The first budget of Boeing 787 has reached 8 billion US dollars, and it is said that it is still increasing, and it is very likely to increase to 18 billion US dollars. This huge gap in R&D costs shattered the confidence of Airbus engineers at the beginning.
Industrial complexes like aircraft are built on the strength of money. You get what you pay for, this is an iron rule.
Using only one sixth of the R&D budget of the 787 to build an A350 that can rival the 787, isn't that asking too much?
Therefore, after the budget committee set the upper limit of US$3 billion, Airbus engineers, faced with such high requirements and such a tight budget, backed off and were unwilling to participate in the design of the A350.
No one wants to take on this hot potato!
For a time, the A350 project became a plague that everyone avoided.
In the end, Airbus had no choice but to hand over the design leadership to Xu Cang in full accordance with the previous agreement with Shengming Fund. In this way, if the project fails later, Airbus will not have any burden, and all the responsibility will be on Xu Cang.
It’s just a pity that the three billion dollars were wasted by an outsider.
Before, due to Xu Cang's too resounding reputation in the aviation industry, Heimrhein List actually had a little fantasy, wondering if Xu Cang might be able to surprise him, until he saw the plan written by Xu Cang.
That’s right, Xu Cang spent less than an hour writing this plan in Canada. It contains very little content, only three pages.
The first sentence of the opening article is that the fuselage of the A350 aircraft must use carbon fiber, at least reaching the usage ratio of the 787.
Just this one sentence made Heimlein List unable to hold back, and several veins bulged on his forehead: "Doesn't he know that the world's best carbon fiber supplier has been monopolized by Boeing?"
Airbus started using composite materials earlier than Boeing, but starting early does not mean flying high.
In the 787 project, Boeing invested heavily in optimizing carbon fiber technology, replacing the material of the entire fuselage with carbon fiber. In addition, it solved the problem of insufficient conductivity of carbon fiber by wrapping a thin layer of copper mesh in the fuselage.
Compared to the A320, which was struck by lightning all the time, Boeing has achieved the achievement of catching up in the 787 project, at least .
"However, the A350 will be a model that will compete directly with the 787 in the future. It will be a big disadvantage for us not to have something that others have," Starei Warrick said in a low voice.
Composite materials can greatly reduce the weight of aircraft, which is the most intuitive advantage. The 787 is fuel-efficient, and the weight reduction is good, which further increases its economic efficiency. If the A350 does not keep up and still uses an aluminum alloy fuselage, it will be difficult to impress customers.
But the problem is...
"No money!" Heimrein List scratched his hair: "Do you know that the fuselage of Boeing 787 is made of a whole carbon barrel? Do you know how much this technology costs?"
"About this..." Starei Varik muttered a few words, took two steps forward, flipped through the document, and saw a line of small words at the end: "It says that if the process of making a whole carbon barrel cannot be mastered cheaply, carbon plates can be spliced instead."
Heimlich List was completely speechless at such a crude solution.
However, the little shock from Xu Cang has not ended yet.
"By the way, Xu Cang also said that the A350 needs to imitate the nose shape of the 787..."
“But we don’t have the carbon fiber shaping technology like Boeing does!”
In terms of nose curve, the aesthetic design of 787 is quite good. In line with the principle of learning from good things, Xu Cang must imitate 787.
Heimrein List had seen the concept drawings of the 787. He knew that in order to create such a nose curve, a one-piece carbon fiber weaving process was required. Such a process was too expensive and would significantly increase the overall production cost of the A350.
Heimrein List was a little unhappy. With such a small budget, Xu Cang still made various demands. It was too much.
"He keeps making demands that are impossible to achieve. Can you..."
But the next moment Starei Varik whispered: "It can be done."
Heimrhein List was stunned: "What do you mean?"
"Just replace the nose with aluminum alloy." Starei Varik said firmly, and then added: "It's written on it."
"What kind of bullshit is this?" Heimrein List cursed. "The nose is made of aluminum alloy and the fuselage is made of carbon fiber. Isn't this obvious?"
Starei Varik spread his hands and said, "It's painted, who can tell?"
"What about the windshield? Can't you still see it?"
Starei Varik said solemnly: "Use black paint! This way, no one can tell whether the nose and fuselage are made of different materials or whether the fuselage is assembled with carbon plates."
Heimlein List was stunned on the spot and took a deep breath.
Compared to his amazing performance in the field of flying, Xu Cang is also "extremely talented" in aircraft design.
It's a miracle that the A350 project has such a leader!
What kind of operation is this to cover up one's own faults!
It's just like turning off the lights, everything is the same, after painting, all the differences will disappear.
Design genius!
"There is another one." Starei Varik scratched his head: "Xu Cang wrote it on it. Didn't the 787 cancel the air bleed system..."
"Isn't he thinking of canceling the air intake system?" Heimrhein List sneered, "If that's the case, then we have to redesign the air conditioning system."
Because carbon fiber is relatively intolerant to high temperatures and cannot withstand the high-temperature airflow of the bleed air system, the bleed air system was directly cancelled for the 787, which uses a large amount of carbon fiber. However, this requires a new air conditioning system to compensate for the lack of bleed air.
This will require a large amount of research funding.
According to Xu Cang's request, the A350 will also use a large amount of carbon fiber, so doesn't that mean the air induction system will have to be cancelled like the 787?
However, Starei Varik shook his head and said, "No, it says that the air bleed system is retained, and all the pipes through which the air flows are replaced with titanium alloy."
"Did he write this?" asked Heimrhein List.
Starei Varik nodded: "Yes, it is written there."
Heimrhein List was silent. In just these few minutes, he was completely convinced by Xu Cang's ideas.
When it comes to processes like carbon fiber fuselage or nose curve, Xu Cang has only one idea: mix it, just mix it hard!
It looks the same after turning off the lights and painting.
This is true, there is no problem of decreased security.
However, I always feel that the grade has been lowered.
Regarding the issue of canceling the air bleed system, which is an issue that cannot be avoided, Xu Cang is also a flexible person and does not insist on aligning himself with the 787. If there is no money to optimize the air bleed system, then just keep it. As long as I am thick-skinned enough, the rumors from the outside world cannot hurt me.
"Then how do we solve the problem of fuselage conductivity? The 787 not only covers the fuselage with copper mesh, but also mixes metal materials into the composite materials. This solves the problem of fuselage conductivity." Heimrein List stared at Starei Warrick: "Did Xu Cang write about this problem?"
"I have written it."
Heimrhein List was delighted: "What do you mean?"
Starei Varik blushed: "Install a few more discharge brushes."
Heimrein List felt his blood pressure rise instantly. He rubbed his temples and waved his hands: "I actually had high hopes for him. You've read the document, right? What else is on it? Tell me."
Starei Warrick looked at Heimrhein List with a strange expression on his face, and he knew that the Airbus CEO was very excited by Xu Cang's unpredictable aircraft design talent.
"For the main systems of the aircraft, Xu Cang requested that the design of the A380 be simply optimized and transferred to the A350 as much as possible, and it would be best if the parts could be shared."
Heimrein List agrees with this. The A380 project failed in its first battle, which led to a decline in orders and a large number of parts. So many parts can't all be scrapped, right? Optimizing and adjusting the A380 system and transferring it to the A350 can not only reduce a large part of the system design costs, but also digest the inventory of parts, which is a two-pronged approach.
"I will communicate this specifically with the design department."
"And the most important thing," Starei Warrick said, "Xu Cang asked to design an engine for the A350 that is not yet available on the market. The choice of this power system will be made by Xu Cang himself."
"What does that mean? He wants to communicate with the A350's power system himself?"
"Now it seems that this is what it means."
Heimrein List paused for a moment. “Did it say which engine manufacturer would be chosen?”
"No." Starei Varik shook his head: "However, based on the current relationship between Xu Cang and Luo Luo, this task may be handed over to Luo Luo."
"Rolls-Royce?" Heimrein List was not averse to Rolls-Royce. It didn't matter even if Xu Cang finally chose Rolls-Royce. Compared with the power system, Xu Cang's "bold" design on the fuselage was really too advanced. Heimrein List didn't know if there would be a big pit ahead if he followed Xu Cang's direction.
However, one thing is certain, Xu Cang's direction can indeed save a lot of money.
Xu Cang was not a professional aircraft designer, he only needed to give a direction, and the rest would be left to professionals. However, this plan was too personal, and once it started, there would be no turning back.
This led to both Starei Warrick and Heimrein List being confused about the future of the A350.
"What should we do?" Starei Lister asked, "Follow the directions he gave?"
Heimlein List exhaled a breath of foul air, hesitated for a moment, and finally made the decision: "There is no other choice. This is it. Whether it works or not, he will bear the responsibility alone."
…
A-choo…
In front of the ICAO headquarters building, Xu Cang sneezed, rubbed his nose, and wondered in his heart, why has he been sneezing since just now?
Beside him, Qin Xin asked with concern: "Did you catch a cold?"
"No." Xu Cang smacked his lips: "Probably not."
Then he laughed and said, "Maybe someone missed me."
Originally this was a normal joke, but Qin Xin didn't laugh along: "Maybe."
Xu Cang didn't notice Qin Xin's expression. He stretched and headed towards the ICAO building: "Let's go and solve the issue of the special appraisal!"
