| Customer | Collins Aerospace |
| Industry | Aerospace & Defence |
| Application | Aircraft seat assembly |
| Manufacturing Site | Kilkeel, Northern Ireland |
| Employees | 800+ |
| Assembly Lines | 11 dedicated seat assembly lines |
| Solution | Ansomat Operator Guidance |
Aircraft seat assembly is a highly complex manufacturing process. Every seat consists of numerous components that must be assembled according to strict aerospace quality standards while accommodating multiple customer configurations and frequent engineering updates.
At its manufacturing facility in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, Collins Aerospace produces seating for airlines worldwide, including Copa Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EgyptAir and JetBlue. The site manufactures economy, premium economy, business-class and first-class seating across multiple production lines.
To maintain consistent quality while supporting production efficiency, operators require clear, up-to-date assembly instructions at every workstation. Traditional paper-based documentation makes it difficult to manage engineering revisions, standardize work between operators and quickly train new employees.
Collins Aerospace needed a solution that would digitize work instructions, reduce assembly errors and ensure every operator followed the latest approved manufacturing process.
Founded in 1967 as Aircraft Furnishing Ltd., the Kilkeel facility has grown from a small workshop employing five people into one of the world's largest and longest-established aircraft seating manufacturing plants.
Today, the site forms part of Collins Aerospace, a business of RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), and employs more than 800 people from Kilkeel and the surrounding region. The facility manufactures aircraft interiors that are used by airlines around the world and has become a benchmark for aerospace manufacturing excellence.
To support consistent, high-quality assembly, Collins Aerospace implemented Ansomat Operator Guidance throughout its aircraft seat assembly process.
At every workstation, operators receive digital, step-by-step work instructions that guide them through each assembly task. Instead of relying on static paper documentation, employees always work with the latest engineering-approved instructions, ensuring every seat is assembled according to current specifications.
All stations integrate with electric nutrunners to ensure tightenings up to specifications
Ansomat helps operators by:
This digital guidance enables operators to focus on quality and precision while reducing the risk of process deviations.
Inside the 215,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, Collins Aerospace operates 11 dedicated seat assembly lines:
Economy seat production has been optimized to an exceptionally efficient process, with a complete three-seat economy section assembled in as little as nine to eleven minutes.
On the EgyptAir production line, approximately 20 operators work together in a synchronized workflow. Each operator performs a specific task while receiving clear digital instructions through Ansomat Operator Guidance.
Production materials are supplied to each workstation by the sourcing team, ensuring operators always have the correct components available. Rather than manually lifting heavy seat assemblies, products move along a continuous track system between stations, improving ergonomics while allowing operators to concentrate on assembly accuracy and product quality.
The combination of optimized material flow, standardized digital instructions and skilled operators enables Collins Aerospace to maintain both high throughput and the stringent quality standards required in aerospace manufacturing.
By replacing paper-based instructions with digital operator guidance, Collins Aerospace has further strengthened the consistency of its manual assembly operations.
From a small workshop in 1967 to a world-leading aerospace interiors facility today, the Kilkeel plant is a powerful example of how modern manufacturing excellence is achieved, and how Ansomat plays a vital role in keeping aircraft seat production moving at full speed.
Modern aerospace manufacturing demands complete process control, rapid implementation of engineering changes and consistent execution across every operator and workstation.
By providing real-time digital guidance, Ansomat Operator Guidance helps manufacturers replace static documentation with controlled, standardized workflows that improve quality, simplify training and support continuous improvement.
From its beginnings as a small workshop in 1967 to today's globally recognized aerospace manufacturing facility, the Collins Aerospace site in Kilkeel demonstrates how digital manufacturing technologies contribute to world-class production performance.
Together, Collins Aerospace and Ansomat show how digital operator guidance can help manufacturers standardize complex manual assembly processes while improving quality, efficiency and operational consistency.
Whether you manufacture aircraft interiors, automotive components or other complex products, Ansomat Operator Guidance helps operators perform every task correctly the first time.
