Aero Structure Manufacturing Facility

The Spirit AeroSystems Center for Composite Excellence, located in Kinston, North Carolina, is a 585,000 square foot structural steel framed building with insulated metal panel envelope and is used to manufacture composite aero structure components for the Airbus A-350. The fully environmentally controlled facility consists of 150,000-square-foot Class 100K-ISO8 Clean Room environments, 170,000-square-foot Fabrication and Assembly rooms, a specialized room for one of the world’s largest autoclave units, as well as Tooling Maintenance and Prep areas.

The manufacturing process required large clear spans with ample clearances to maneuver large tools carrying the product without distribution of the process. To create these large, column-free areas, 10 foot-deep joist girders were used to span between 100 feet and 173 feet; supporting joists up to 131 feet, 4 inches long.