The purpose of this research is to construct the competency of engine manufacturing engineer of Aero engine industry. Base on the result, it is expected to provide the principles for the Aero engine industry for personnel recruitment, education and training, and effectively enhance the working effciency. At first, this research figures out the research items of related competency analysis base on the different literatures. And then through deep discussion with senior engineers, management staffs and experts, to determine the key purpose of engine manufacturing engineers of Aero engine industry, i.e. to execute feasibility evaluation, process design, engineering integration, tool design and problem solving, etc. From those key purposes, it developped 6 major functions, 24 minor functions and 94 function units. For further study of the function tree of those competency, this research also conduct the weighing questionaire from some experts, to evaluate the weighing value of different functions on the tree diagram, to decide the degree of different functions. Among the 6 major functions, the weight of process integration capability is the highest, engineering capability get the second one, both of these two capabilities occupied 59% of the total weight. Besides these two important capabilities, it is followed by general process capability, special process capability, common capability, and operating of CAD. As a result, process integration capability and engineering competency are the most important capabilities for engine manufacturing engineers. This result could be the reference for personnel cultivation of aviation industry and also to provide the indications for self-assessment and self-growth of engine manufacturing engineers. The ultimate purpose is to expect the promotion of engine manufacturing of national Aero engine industry.

This thesis is a continuation of design automation studies within research projects financed by VINNOVA (the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems) and Knowledge foundation that contributed to the development of producibility assessment system at a global aerospace products supplier, GKN Aerospace Sweden. A case study was carried at the company on Turbine Rear Structure (TRS) component design of a jet engine with the main objective to evaluate weld producibility assessment tools and to demonstrate system’s performance in multi-disciplinary design environment. The context of this thesis is a set-based product design development where several studies, i.e. thermal, structural, aerodynamic etc. are carried concurrently to gather knowledge between their parameter relations. The thesis contributes to the goal of fully integrated producibility assessment in multi-disciplinary studies to support product development process. The problems encountered during the thesis execution involved systematic analysis setup to extract and verify CAD geometry data, assessment of meaningfulness of producibility indicators, development of semi-automated data post-processing module and relating product design to its manufacturing aspects. Commercial and in-house developed software were used extensively to demonstrate the results of the system with the help of continuous company support to mitigate indispensable bottlenecks along the way. The work has led to systematic improvements, determined assessment limitations and most relevant weld producibility aspects. Collected feedback to evaluate prepared demonstrator showed promising results to support product design decisions considering both performance and producibility.