Manufacturing & monitoring
MARITIME SURVEYOR (International federation of maritime surveyors)
I mainly work as a sapeur on very technical issues, such as architecture, the implementation of composite materials, electric ships.
I also carry out or control buoyancy and stability studies.
As an independent expert, I am also called to draft CCTPs for calls for tenders on behalf of public or semi-public organisations, and support them in the process of the call for proposals: Answer to questions, rating candidates, participation in the selection jury…
MATERIALS AND USES EXPERT
If we want to optimize the manufacture of any product, knowledge of the materials and their use is essential. Having worked in several sectors which each have their own uses in terms of choice of materials, I have acquired a transversal vision which allows me to recommend relevant solutions, sometimes innovative, and often by hybridizing materials to optimize the performance and costs.
PROCESSES AND DIGITAL SECTOR EXPERT
The choice of a material often imposes one or more implementation processes, and vice and versa. Knowledge of the different processes makes it possible to optimize technical choices by taking into account the type of manufacturing, unit, small or large series, and the characteristics of each process: Laser cutting, water jet or CNC, Machining, folding or forming , additive manufacturing, molding, contact, vacuum, hot or cold, injection, welding, etc.
The concept of the digital sector, which I helped to develop during my career within the Airbus helicopters group, has become an essential part of current optimized manufacturing. Whether in large series, but probably even more for prototypes and small series. This starts with a digital mockup faithful to the definition of the finished product (we are talking about a digital twin today). This mockup integrating the materials and manufacturing processes, the elements that will be extracted from it can be sent directly to manufacturing. This results in a gain in precision and ease of assembly which saves precious time and reduces manufacturing costs. This also allows iterations on the choices of materials and processes to optimize the product. But one might believe that once the product is produced, the digital mockup becomes useless. This is in fact not the case at all, since it will be updated to integrate the modifications made following prototyping and testing, then during the life of the product, it will allow evolutions or customizations. It will gradually constitute an important database of the technical solutions adopted by the designers, and will be able to enrich the new designs and sometimes allow the reuse of certain parts or assemblies.
PROTOTYPES AND MODELS
In the design process, once the digital mockup has been created, several uses are made of it in order to validate the design before the final launch of the project. In the virtual world, there is digital imagery, but it is sometimes important to physically validate several aspects, such as complex assemblies, ergonomics or maintenance, for example.
I then act on the physical model. It can be on a reduced scale, to validate a complex assembly, a kinematics, or a design. It can be real size, in particular to validate the aspects of physical ergonomics or maintenance; I have thus produced a large number of full-scale helicopter models on behalf of Airbus Hélicopters. I also had to create models for the wind tunnel tests, a somewhat special case since these models are subject to aerodynamic constraints which are sometimes significant. One of my activities, which is close to scale 1 modeling, is the production of cabins, cockpits or elements for flight simulators.
Finally, I may be required to create a prototype or demonstrator, which differs from the full-scale model in that it must be functional and achieve a certain number of performance objectives. The choices of materials and mass constraints will be closer to those of the expected finished product, but the processes may differ in order to adapt to single-unit manufacturing.
If I outsource some processes to partners that I have selected for their quality, their reactivity, and their cost, I carry out assemblies and finishes in-house, as well as the small parts in 3D printing.
ESTHEL simulator model 1/10
ESTHEL simulator cabin (Real)
Real (full scale) simulator cabins
Adjustable simulator seat
Forklift simulator
Cabin of the SAGOD winching trainer in production, and on its nacelle (winching height 10m)
1/72 scale model (27cm) made in 3D printing
1/10 scale model made in 3D printing before delivery to the customer, and real ship.