Mad dash to finish 787 gets trickier

Mad dash to finish 787 gets trickier
But company vows to roll out first plane by July 8 deadline Issues
with fasteners, systems will test workers

Last updated May 16, 2007 9:56 p.m. PT

By JAMES WALLACE
P-I AEROSPACE REPORTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine..._boeing17.html


Systems not installed.

Workmanship issues with the horizontal stabilizer.

Temporary fasteners that will have to be replaced.

That's only some of what 787 workers at The Boeing Co.'s Everett plant
face as the mad dash begins to get the first Dreamliner assembled and
out the factory door by July 8.

Judging by what one source described -- and has personally seen --
it's a good thing Boeing is prepared for the extra work that it will
take to get that first plane finished on time.

Boeing executives have stressed that the company has contingency plans
to deal with any number of issues related to 787 production,
manufacturing and final assembly in order to keep the program on
schedule.

"The joke around here is that they will beat us if they have to, but
that first plane is going to be finished on time," one Boeing mechanic
at the plant said Wednesday after the last of the large 787 structures
was delivered by the large cargo freighter called the Dreamlifter.

That last piece was the midbody fuselage, 84 feet long and 19 feet in
diameter and consisting of sections manufactured in Italy and Japan.
They were attached together in Charleston, S.C., before being flown to
Everett on the modified 747 Dreamlifter

With that delivery, the start of final assembly of the first
Dreamliner is only days away. Boeing plans to celebrate the occasion
Monday with what it bills as the "grand opening" of the 787 bay where
all Dreamliners will be assembled. Even Gov. Chris Gregoire is
supposed to be there.

What won't be apparent to her and other outsiders is just how much
more must be done to complete the first plane on time. It is not as
simple as merely hooking the various structures together, even though
that's the long-term plan.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter provided this glimpse of
some of the issues.


Systems. Many critical systems -- the guts of a jetliner -- were not
installed by Boeing's partners before the large fuselage sections and
wings were delivered to Everett over the past few weeks.

This is the kind of "travel work" that Boeing has said it is prepared
for. The company has hired additional mechanics to help with 787 final
assembly, though it will not say how many. It is also shifting
mechanics from other airplane programs. The source said dozens of 777
workers -- the biggest jetliner program in Everett -- are being moved
over to support 787 final assembly now that all the large structures
have arrived. New workers will be hired to replace those veteran 777
mechanics, the source said.


Stabilizer defects. What may not have been expected or planned for was
the arrival condition of the 787's horizontal stabilizer. This is the
winglike structure on the tail. The 62-foot composite stabilizer is
made by Alenia in Italy. It was the first of the large 787 structures
to arrive at the Everett plant, on April 24.

The source personally inspected the stabilizer recently and said it
was covered with pieces of blue tape, each piece indicating some kind
of defect or area that needed attention.

These "workmanship" issues, as another Boeing person described them,
can be fixed but it means more work. Boeing reportedly has talked with
Alenia about its quality-control procedures to make sure the second
stabilizer that arrives in Everett is in better shape.


Fasteners. The large 787 structures arrived with many temporary
fasteners -- painted red to indicate that they can't go on the
finished airplane. It is not clear why temporary fasteners may have
been used, but they must be replaced with permanent fasteners.

In a conference call with reporters earlier this year, Mike Bair,
Boeing's vice president of the 787 program, said there is a worldwide
shortage of fasteners because of the increase in jet production by
Boeing and rival Airbus.

"The fastener industry is stretched tighter than a rubber band," Bair
said at the time.

Asked for comment Wednesday about the kinds of 787 issues described by
the source, a Boeing spokeswoman said they were "typical" for a new
airplane program and they were anticipated and planned for.

Jim McNerney, Boeing's chairman and chief executive, has said Boeing
is spending about $1 billion more to help with 787 issues, as well as
on the new 747-8 development program.

Boeing had to send dozens of its engineers to help its partners in
Italy and Japan after they fell behind in manufacturing the large
composite structures for the Dreamliner.

The production and manufacturing system for the 787 represents a sea
change not only for Boeing but the industry.

Instead of doing most of the manufacturing work, Boeing has given that
responsibility to its global partners. The Japanese are making the
composite wings of the 787. Alenia of Italy is making sections of the
composite fuselage, as are Texas-based Vought and Spirit AeroSystems
in Wichita, Kan.

The only large 787 structure manufactured by Boeing is the composite
tail fin.

Eventually, as with all jetliner programs, the production and assembly
kinks that are now so apparent will be worked out. Once they have
been, Boeing believes that a 787 will spend only three days in final
assembly at the Everett plant.

But for now, 787 mechanics in Everett have just over 50 days to
install all the systems, connect the structures and get that first
plane assembled for the plane's July 8 debut.

That will be followed by first flight in late July or early August,
with the seventh production plane (the first six will be test planes)
going to All Nippon Airways of Japan next May.

In an exclusive interview with the Seattle P-I this week, at a meeting
of the Star Alliance in Copenhagen, Denmark, Mineo Yamamoto, chief
executive of All Nippon Airways, said Boeing has assured him the
airline will get its first Dreamliner on time.



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P-I aerospace reporter James Wallace can be reached at 206-448-8040 or
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