Alcoa Fastening Systems says it is now keeping pace with demand for key parts in the assembly of Boeing 787s, and can meet any increase in Boeing's rate of production.
But an earlier fasteners shortage, resolved by temporary fasteners, will still affect early production models, says Boeing.
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©Mark Wagner/aviationimages.comThe fastener shortage will affect the first 15-20 787s in production |
Alcoa is also studying options for increasing production capacity of aerospace fasteners, with a special focus on expanding production capability in Europe to support both increased 787 production at Alenia and the start-up of a supply-chain to support the Airbus A350 XWB programme, Sharpe says.
The expansion opportunities come after a widely reported fiasco in the early stages of first assembly of the 787. For lack of a timely supply of fasteners, Boeing's industrial partners shipped large fuselage sections held together with thousands of temporary bolts and nuts.
The replacement parts were blamed for creating the well-publicised gap between the sections at final assembly. Moreover, each replacement must now be painstakingly replaced with a production version before first flight scheduled from late August to late September.
"For 10 years, as a sales guy you'd like people to think your product was strategic," Sharpe says. "Now that it is, I don't know that it's a lot of fun."
The temporary fastener issue will continue to be a problem for at least the first 15 to 20 aircraft in production, says Mike Bair, Boeing's 787 vice-president and general manager.
"We knew that was going to be an issue. We knew it probably 9 or 12 months ago," Bair said. "We planned for it. We ensured that we had the trained people that would identify it and be ready to go. It's happening kind of the way we expected it to happen. And that workforce will slowly go down."
But Alcoa now says it has overcome the early technical and logistical hurdles after a supply-chain intervention from Boeing, which has started issuing its major partners guidance on rationing fasteners based on need.
"With no hoarding and good management, we'll be fine," Sharpe says. "We have excess capacity if the capacity is used effectively."
At the beginning of the 787 programme, several Boeing partners were ordering fasteners to build up large inventories. The orders overwhelmed Aloca's production capacity at the earliest stages of the programme, he says.
Another problem was a lack of research and development resources to support Boeing's need for specialised 787 fasteners.
At the same time, the company was supporting development programmes for the A380 and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Both the 787 and A380 development programmes for fasteners are now complete, and the F-35 programme is about four-fifths complete, Sharpe says.
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Source: Flight International
