Managing the mass production for the LAD instrument onboard eXTP

The Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission is a flagship astronomy mission led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and scheduled for launch in 2029. The Large Area Detector (LAD) is one of the instruments on board eXTP and is dedicated to studying the timing of X-ray sources with unprecedented sensitivity. The development of the eXTP LAD involves a significant mass production of elements to be deployed in a significant number of countries (Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland, China, Czech Republic, France). This feature makes the Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration and Test (MAIT), Verification and Calibration the most challenging and critical tasks of the project. An optimized Flight Model (FM) implementation plan has been drawn up, aiming at a production rate of 2 Modules per week. This plan is based on the interleaving of a series of parallel elementary activities in order to make the most efficient use of time and resources and to ensure that the schedule is met.