The Supply Chain
At the close of his briefing at the Farnborough air show, 787 VP and General Manager Pat Shanahan was asked about a second final assembly line and if it could soften the impact of follow-on delivery delays to customers.
“Well, I don’t think a second [final assembly line] would solve the issue with four [assembly] positions… it’s just a matter of work,” said Shanahan.
Following up, the reporter asked, “You’re not going to open a second final assembly line?”
“Not yet, I’m not producing very many airplanes yet so it would sit idle,” replied Shanahan.
The green light for a second assembly line can wait, but the existing supply chain first has to be prepared to meet the demands of today.
For the long-term success of the program, supply chain fortification is essential for ramping up production.
Spirit Aerosystems, which has demonstrated itself to be the most capable systems integrator of the program’s six primary structural suppliers, is settling in for the production rate increase this October.
The Wichita based-company delivered the nose section for Dreamliner Four 100% complete.
Complete 787 block point re-engineering plans were delivered to Spirit last week according to a Wichita based 787 program staffer familiar with the changes.
“Along with the supply-chain design changes there have been many minor engineering improvements, mostly for weight reduction purposes,” says the staffer. “Now that we have our final “this is the way we want it built, soup to nuts,” things should go quite a bit smoother.”
Neither Spirit nor Boeing could specifically discuss the engineering plan for weight reduction on early production aircraft, though each company emphasized the they are in continual discussion about how to take weight out of the airplane and improvements are constantly being built into the aircraft’s design.
Structural components manufactured by Alenia have improved markedly in recent months, according to sources in Charleston and Everett. Section 44, the bonnet structure in the center fuselage barrel, was delivered to Charleston shop complete for Dreamliner Seven in June, making Alenia the first partner to deliver completed sections. In addition, the horizontal stabilizer for Dreamliner Five arrived in Everett six weeks ago and virtually complete.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.