Large parts and major sub-assemblies for the first Boeing 787 are on track to begin arriving at the company’s final assembly line at Everett, Washington from mid-March onwards, Boeing confirmed today.
The first parts are expected to begin arriving by road and rail, although for the assemblies arriving by air “it will be a bit of a horse race to see what comes in first”, says a Boeing spokesperson, noting “it could be the wingbox from MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries). We don’t have a formal date for when actual final assembly starts, though it is likely to be late March to early April.”
The first major 787 sub-assemblies due to be delivered by the 747LCF Dreamlifter also include the Section 41 front fuselage, wingset and combined centre-aft fuselage sections. These delivery flights are not expected until “later in the month”, says Boeing.
Mid-March is also expected to see the first wing set beginning to move through ‘pre-integration’ prior to entering the final assembly process. This will be carried out in the factory’s building 40-36 before moving to the adjacent building 40-26 where final assembly will be housed. However, says Boeing, “as the wings go through pre-integration we don’t consider this as final assembly”.
The deliveries are later than Boeing had originally hoped when discussing the schedule in 2006, but are “still well within the window we need to stay on schedule,” it says.
The delays are tied to a series of minor design, materials and manufacturing issues at several of the partners as well as the longer-then-expected certification process for the Dreamlifter. As of 27 February, the first aircraft RT876 was undergoing pre-tests for final certification flights.
News of the imminent start of final assembly comes as Boeing and aerospace e-procurement exchange Exostar - of which Boeing is part-owner - reveal new details of how the complex 787 supply chain is being controlled using software provided by E2open.
Boeing 787 system integration, production and support director Tim Opitz says the Exostar system, which manages the supply of parts from 135 structural and systems partners around the world, “provided the solution to allow us to have this streamlined, free-flowing solution.” By enabling all the partners to work on the same network in real-time, it has been “absolutely critical to the way we’re doing business today,” he adds
Source: FlightGlobal.com
