Parts Delays Force Boeing To Slow 787 Jet Assembly Line in S.C.
Dec. 23—Only months after Boeing got 787 production up and slowly running again, delays in major parts coming from Spirit AeroSystems, based in Wichita, Kansas, have forced Boeing to slow production again at the final assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, the company confirmed Thursday.
The South Carolina line will shut down next week as is usual for the break between Christmas and the new year. Then well into January, only limited final assembly work will resume. For that period, Boeing has redeployed 787 assembly line mechanics to other areas.
"As the result of a supply chain challenge, we are adjusting assignments for some of our teammates [in South Carolina] to ensure everyone has meaningful work," Boeing said in a statement, while insisting that "787 production continues" and will get back on track to meet its targets.
"Our previously shared delivery and production outlook is unchanged," Boeing said.
The slowdown was relayed to some employees internally just days after United Airlines placed a big order for 787s last week that will require a much higher 787 production rate by 2024.
Boeing is targeting a 787 production rate of five jets per month in 2023. However, since deliveries resumed in August, deliveries of freshly built 787s have barely climbed above one per month.
Boeing does not disclose the production rate. We do know that in October and November, Boeing delivered six 787s each month. However, most of those were reworked airplanes built many months ago and only now repaired to fix defects.
In a note to investors this week, Bloomberg analyst George Ferguson estimated that one new jet delivered each month is fresh off the South Carolina assembly line.
The delay with Spirit parts is holding back plans to start ramping that rate up.
One person, who cannot be identified because Boeing has not authorized disclosure of the information, said at one recent meeting a manager spoke of a 45-day effect on final assembly.
Boeing said it is working with Spirit in a planned way to address the issue.
"We continue to work with our suppliers to resume a steady supply of conforming compliant product to allow us to return to stability across the production system," Boeing said.
Boeing deferred questions to Spirit for details on what has caused the parts delays. In turn, Spirit declined to comment and deferred to Boeing.
A major partner on the 787 program, Spirit makes, in Wichita, the carbon-composite forward fuselage — the nose of the airplane, including the flight deck where the pilots sit. It also manufactures there the pylons on the wings from which the jet's engines hang.
At facilities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Subang, Malaysia, Spirit also makes the leading edges of the 787 wings.
Feverish 787 work in Everett over holiday break
The slowdown in assembling new 787s is likely to have little to no effect on the rate of 787 deliveries.
That's because work continues in both North Charleston and in Everett on the large inventory of jets built since the fall of 2020 and grounded since they rolled out.
In Everett, a team of mechanics is working overtime next week — through the holiday break — to finish and deliver by year-end a batch of 787s built earlier that need defects at the fuselage joins repaired.
Those quality defects caused an expensive halt in deliveries over a 19-month period. Engineers had discovered tiny gaps at the fuselage joins as well as improperly installed shims — small pieces of material used to fill small gaps in the jet's structure.
The defects were not an immediate safety or flight concern. But because they could potentially lead to premature structural weakness years later, Boeing grounded the planes and is now working through fixes on the backlog of undelivered jets.
More than 100 jets built and undelivered remain to be reworked. Trade magazine Aviation Week obtained internal Boeing documents revealing how intensive the repair work is on each airplane.
The documents indicated the rework on each aircraft can typically take about five months from bringing an aircraft out of storage to having it ready to deliver.
Boeing has already written off $5.5 billion to cover the cost of the 787 rework and the slowed production rate.
The rework is being done in South Carolina and in Everett, where the 787 was first built. In 2021, Boeing closed the first 787 assembly line in Everett and consolidated assembly of the jet in South Carolina.
The 787 assembly bay in Everett is now full of planes being reworked at each station. More planes are being reworked outside on the Everett flight line.
And with the final 747 jumbo jet having rolled out of the factory — it's currently in Portland to be painted before returning to Everett for delivery early in the New Year — Boeing might rework more 787s inside the now-empty 747 assembly bay.
"We are evaluating several alternatives for the 747 space," said Boeing spokesperson Jessica Kowal.
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