Inside the South Hangar: Spirit's road to ten a month - Part Two

Second of two parts detailing the 787 operations of Spirit AeroSystems-MORE PHOTOS

To hear Harold Leslie talk about the work ahead on 787, it becomes clear that his confidence in the ramp comes from the fact that tasks that would previously take days have been designed to take just hours on 787. On previous programs, it would take 2 to 2.5 days to hang the passenger doors. For the 787, the passenger doors, built by Latecoere, and the nose landing gear, supplied by Messier-Dowty, both can be installed in a single eight-hour shift. Once the floor grid is installed, significant work can be done concurrently, further cutting the integration time.

Another major time saving initiative about to be implemented by Spirit is the activation of a series of automated guided vehicles or AGVs. The AGV, as its name suggests, will transport completed barrels from the composite fabrication facility (CFF), where the barrels are wound, to the systems integration facility without a human operator.

Microchips currently being installed in the floor of the CFF will create a systematic predefined path between stations for the AGVs to follow. The barrels will, quite literally "take themselves" from station to station, cutting both time and manpower, says Leslie. The AGVs will enable daytime movement of each barrel without disrupting production.

The next major block point for Spirit will be at Airplane 34 with the incorporation of two major weight saving initiatives. The floor beams will transition to a hybrid titanium-sine wave design and a Pi-box shaped design for the seat tracks. These two changes, which will run the length of the fuselage, are expected to reduce the empty weight of 787 by more than 1000 lbs, according to the assessment found in Airbus's 787 Lessons Learnt dossier.

After the Airplane 34 blockpoint change, the next major change incorporation point for the 787 will be on the 787-9 at Airplane 109, says Leslie. Spirit expects to be able to use a mostly common set of tooling, as the stretch of the fuselage will come entirely in the center fuselage in Sections 43 and 46, not the forward Section 41.

"Right now, that's pretty big for us if we can keep the -8 and the -9 common," says Buck Buchanan. "When I say keep it common, that doesn't mean that the -9 has to look exactly like the -8 does today. But if we have to strengthen the 9 somewhere, if we can allow the 8 to carry the weight of the strengthening, we'd like to build one 41 section for the -8 and the -9. That has good cost benefits for the program. Every model we are that way, we did that on aluminum airplanes too. We really drive towards as much commonality as possible," he adds.

Buchanan says he expects the major sizing of the 787-9 to firm up about a year from now, but adds that the -9 configuration could be driven by what Boeing learns in flight test on the 787-8.

Boeing added an additional 21 airplane -8 buffer into the production stream, versus the previous plan to build the -9 at Airplane 88, according to program sources. The 787-9 is now set to enter service at the end of 2013, the same year that Boeing is planning to meet its 10 ship set per month ramp up.