Crunch Time for Boeing

As an August deadline looms for the 787 Dreamliner, company executives insist it's on target, despite supplier delays

by Stanley Holmes

All eyes are on Boeing as it begins the final assembly of the first 787 Dreamliner.

Even Washington Governor Christine Gregoire joined the official ceremony that kicked off the process on May 21 at the company's sprawling new state-of-the-art aircraft plant in Everett, Wash. A lot is at stake, of course, for all interested parties, including the state. The Dreamliner has notched 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, making it the fastest-selling new airplane in aviation history, and it is partly responsible for reviving the once fading fortunes of Boeing's commercial airplane division.

But now Boeing (BA) actually has to begin building the complicated composite jets and still faces the crucial test: seeing if it can make the plane fly. "If there are going to be problems—and every new airplane program has some—it's going to start appearing now and over the next 9 to 12 months," says Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst for the Teal Group. "So far, so good. But you can bet that few senior Boeing executives are going to be sleeping well over the next few months."

Executive Enthusiasm

Rollout for the first jet is slated for July 8, and the first flight is scheduled for mid-August, provided the airplane is ready to fly. Boeing's first customer, All Nippon Airways, should receive its first Dreamliner in May, 2008. Meeting those deadlines is key, as delivery is when Boeing collects most of its money.

Boeing executives, as expected, put on a brave face May 21 and gushed enthusiastically about progress so far. The large composite fuselage sections, the first set of carbon-fiber wings, and the horizontal stabilizer have all been delivered safely to the staging area at Boeing's stripped-down assembly space. Boeing is transporting the big airplane component parts to Everett on modified 747s, called Dreamlifters, from factories in Japan, Italy, South Carolina, and Kansas.

"Today, we begin assembling the first airplane of a new generation," boasted Scott Strode, 787 vice-president of airplane production. "The 787 not only will revolutionize air travel, it represents a new way of building airplanes."

Contingency Plan

As final assembly has drawn closer, people inside Boeing say some challenges are emerging. The actual snapping together of enormous composite parts built by different companies in Asia, Europe, and North America is the first test of this new system. Boeing's supplier partners did not install many of the electronic and hydraulic systems into their respective fuselage sections as planned. Boeing is shifting workers—known as "travelers" in airplane production argot—from other airplane programs, such as the 777 Jetliner, to make up for the unfinished work. That is sure to boost overtime pay, push workers harder, and create havoc as employees frantically try to catch up on the unfinished work.

But on May 21, Strode downplayed some of the production challenges, saying they were typical of a new airplane program. He said suppliers did not integrate the systems in the first fuselage sections as they focused on producing their first composite structures. He said the company has it under control. In the future, however, fuselage sections will come stuffed with the electronics and hydraulic systems, so that Boeing workers will just have to connect the wiring and piping to the other sections and then snap the plane together.

Strode said one challenge is that fuselage sections are currently being held together by temporary fasteners. The cause, he said, is a global shortage of fasteners—the bolts that hold the airplane together—as a result of the boost in jet production at Boeing and Airbus.