Boeing today confirms that the 737 programme faces a new challenge to return to full rate production. Thousands of small pieces of structural hardware must be replaced because of a lack of corrosive coating.
The airframer says the components, known as nutplates, do not present “an immediate safety of flight issue.”
The problem impacts “thousands” of nutplates in each 737 fuselage. The company adds that about 30% will require replacement, a number that runs about 3,000 to 4,000 nutplates per fuselage according to a program source, though the number varies depending on the model of 737.
Boeing is currently ramping up 737 production to its normal rate of about one per day, following the 57-day strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The nutplate quality issue, however, means assembly workers must scramble to replace the parts before each aircraft now on Boeing property can be delivered.
Boeing emphasizes that no 737 will be delivered unless it meets proper conformity standards. Boeing declined to specify what impact the nutplate replacement would have on the pace of production and deliveries.
Boeing says it is devoting significant resources to solving this problem quickly.
Spirit AeroSystems is responsible for development of the 737 fuselage at its Wichita, Kansas facility. Once completed, the green 737 fuselage is shipped by rail to Renton, Washington, for final assembly.
Once completed, aircraft are flown to Boeing Field near downtown Seattle for delivery to customers.
Boeing says that one of three of Spirit’s nutplate suppliers had been delivering parts lacking anti-corrosion material, adding that a root-cause analysis will be undertaken in conjunction with Spirit to prevent the problem from recurring.
Spirit was unavailable for comment.
Boeing adds that all non-conforming nutplates that have yet to be installed at Spirit have been returned to the supplier.
Staff from Spirit have been dispatched to the Seattle area to help identify and fix fuselage sections that are not yet in the final assembly phase.
However, the problem is not limited to only those aircraft waiting to be assembled and delivered.
According to Boeing, 737s delivered to customers since August 2007 contained non-conforming nutplates. Boeing’s delivery website says that 394 737s were delivered between August 2007 and October 2008.
The company is working with the FAA to address the in-service fleet. Boeing says that only areas exposed to moisture could potentially present problems in the long-term by corroding prematurely.
737-800 Assembly Video after the jump
Photo Credit: FlightBlogger
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.