Application of the Learning Curve Analysis to the LHC Main Dipole Production: First Assessment

About two third of the LHC main dipoles have been delivered by the three suppliers charged of the production. The training of the staff, mostly hired just for this manufacture, and the natural improvement of the procedures with the acquired experience, decrease naturally the time necessary for the assembly of a unit. The aim of this paper is to apply methodologies like the cost-based learning curves and the time-based learning curves to the LHC Main Dipole comparing the estimated learning percentage to the ones experienced in other industries. This type of analysis, still in a preliminary phase and here applied to about 40% of the total production of the LHC magnets that will end by 2006, shows that our production has a relatively high learning percentage and it is similar to aerospace and complex machine tools for new models. Therefore with the LHC project, accelerator magnets seem to have reached industrial maturity and this production can be used as bench mark for other large scientific projects implying series production.