Boeing Looks Beyond Dreamliner's First Flight Difficult Process Begins of Moving Cutting-Edge Prototype Toward Mass Production
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner on Tuesday made its first flight, marking a success for the company after two years of delays but setting up an equally challenging drive to churn out large numbers of the cutting-edge aircraft.
Thousands of spectators gathered under cloudy skies at Paine Field here, cheering as the blue-and-white-striped jet lifted off the runway for its maiden flight. "It's great to finally get the plane in the air," said Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney.
But the repeated setbacks have pushed the company into a tight spot: Now it must quickly turn a cutting-edge prototype into a mass-produced money maker.
10:06
Boeing's long-delayed Dreamliner took its first flight, but faces a number of additional challenges. WSJ's Peter Sanders and Dow Jones's Steve Wisnefski discuss, in the News Hub.
"Ramping up production certainly will be a challenge," said Mr. McNerney. Boeing hopes to produce seven Dreamliners a month by 2011, increasing to 10 a month by 2013.
The company's ability to achieve that goal will have a huge impact on the commercial-aviation industry world-wide.
The Dreamliner's more than 300 global suppliers won't begin to fully recoup their money until the planes are delivered to customers.
Many suppliers have already been squeezed by past delays. And airlines and leasing firms, which have ordered 865 of the aircraft, are counting on Boeing to make its new production target so they can plan routes and service.
The delays have already caused Boeing—the single largest exporter from the U.S. and long a symbol of American engineering prowess—to bleed cash. The Chicago-based aerospace giant swung to a $1.6 billion third-quarter loss after posting a $3.5 billion write-down attributed to problems with the Dreamliner and another jetliner program. The missed delivery dates have set off payments of millions in penalties and dented the company's credibility with customers and investors.
Boeing has staked much of its future on the pioneering aircraft. It is the first-ever commercial jet to be built half out of strong-but-lightweight carbon-fiber composite material, which the company promises will make the Dreamliner more fuel-efficient and durable than current models. That prospect played well with customers.
The plane, with a list price of more than $160 million, has received more orders ahead of its first flight than for any jetliner in history.
By any measure, even Boeing's seven-planes-a-month production target is ambitious. After 14 years of producing the larger, aluminum-shelled 777 model, Boeing only this year got on track to deliver more than seven of that aircraft a month.
On top of that, the 787 marks the first time that Boeing is trying to manufacture an aircraft made largely out of composite material, the novelty of which has already led to glitches. Boeing in June abruptly postponed what was supposed to be the first flight, disclosing that composites around where the wings meet the main fuselage were damaged. It took nearly six months to fix the problem.
The Dreamliner also must run through an elaborate test-flight program before the Federal Aviation Administration will clear the aircraft to carry passengers. In a sign of the challenges involved,
Boeing shortened the planned four-hour flight by an hour because of bad weather.
Boeing's European rival, Airbus, ran into manufacturing problems when it was attempting to push out its A380 superjumbo.
"Flying was the simplest part," Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said of the A380. "The hard part was the complexity of industrialization."
Airbus, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., has faced more than four years of delays on the superjumbo because its manufacturing systems weren't robust enough to meet the two-deck plane's heavy industrial demands. Two years after A380 deliveries started, Airbus officials say the plane's production costs still outstrip its selling price.
From the Dreamliner's conception early this decade, Boeing planned to keep customization to a minimum "to make sure it wasn't a boutique plane," said James Albaugh, the head of the company's commercial-aircraft unit. The company now is intensely focused on "what it's going to take to ramp our production up."
When Boeing set out to build the Dreamliner, it chose to outsource much of the production to firms based as far away as Italy and Japan.
But Boeing had a hard time keeping on top of such a vast network of suppliers. In addition, the many delays strained its relations with some key suppliers.
"The critical issue is not that Boeing isn't going to have a successful flight test," Marshall Larsen, CEO of supplier Goodrich Corp., said earlier this year. "It's that the Goodriches of the world successfully support Boeing in getting the aircraft into service." Goodrich, based in Charlotte, N.C., produces major elements of the Dreamliner and the A380, including the 787's brakes and thrust reversers.
"We really have to focus on making sure we have a supply chain that delivers on what we promised," Mr. Albaugh said. "We know there are going to be changes along the way, and we just have to make sure we minimize disruptions on the factory floor."
One of Boeing's key 787 suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. of Wichita, Kan., said it is eager finally to increase production after years of fits and starts.
"We're really excited to get past first flight and get to the next phase and really get into production," said Spirit spokeswoman Deborah Gann. "We're looking forward to getting more regularity with the 787 and think there are lots of improvements on that process that we can continue to make." Write to Peter Sanders at peter.sanders@wsj.com and Daniel Michaels at daniel.michaels@wsj.com
![[SB10001424052748704398304574598333300383914]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-FC365_1215bo_D_20091215152546.jpg)
Post a Comment