Boeing’s two week hold in 787 shipments has overshadowed an even longer period of non-movement in the final assembly line, as the company works to address lingering horizontal stabilizers issues.
Driving the latest hold, the third this year, is a shifted delivery schedule of the Alenia Aeronautica-built 787 horizontal stabilizer and the need to deliver a shipset free of workmanship issues, first disclosed in June, that would need time consuming rework at Boeing’s Everett, Washington final assembly facility, says Boeing.
Yet, as Boeing disclosed the two two-week hold in delivery, structural sections had already been accumulating in the back of the factory as the assembly line has not advanced since early October for Airplane 28, and the line is not set to pulse again until early November and could stretch to the middle of the month, according to those working on the program.
As recently as August at the time of the last delay announcement, Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh expressed confidence in the recovery plan, saying “horizontal stabilizer 27 and on we’re not too worried about, we’ve got that one pretty well overwhelmed.”
Though horizontal stabilizers 28 and 29 will still require inspection and potentially significant rework. Boeing now expects the first “clean” stabilizer free of workmanship issues to be delivered from Italy starting with Airplane 30.
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.