Comments on: Boeing 787 Encounters Second Major Delay

By: Gunning For Orders - 747-8 Intercontinental « BOEING777’s Editorial

Gunning For Orders - 747-8 Intercontinental « BOEING777’s Editorial — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:34:17 +0000

[...] course, it will not be until the 787 Dreamliner is underway with flight-testing with the GEnx that Boeing will be able to have even more concrete data about the performance of the [...]

By: Spanish Join The Dreamliner Invasion « BOEING777’s Editorial

Spanish Join The Dreamliner Invasion « BOEING777’s Editorial — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:19:04 +0000

[...] news of the second delay to service entry of the 787 still being digested, Scott Carson rightly notes that the airplane’s breakthrough technology [...]

By: Confidence/Credibility « BOEING777’s Editorial

Confidence/Credibility « BOEING777’s Editorial — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:23:04 +0000

[...] as Boeing experiences a difficult time getting the 787 program on track and aims to revive the sales of the 747-8I – Airbus too will focus 2008 on various key [...]

By: keesje

keesje — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:43:29 +0000

“the main point of Carson’s talk…”NOTHING wrong in the technologies”….its just a matter of getting everything together”

“I am also buoyed that the design and structures themselves are sound and testing to specification.”

I´m a bit carefulll to consider the new technology and its certification as a done deal because Carson says so.

I think everybody should not be overly optimistic again.
.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:18:38 +0000

Cindy J says:
“There are very serious technical problems that no one dares mention to the guys at the top, like Carson.”

Please tell us what these “serious technical problems” are.

By: Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:16:26 +0000

> These last few admissions only strengthen
> my sense that the amount of work Boeing
> chose to outsource to the partners when the
> 787 program was envisioned was way to aggressive.

And yet the 767 is even more outsourced (by percentage) then the 787, and it launched and ramped-up with little serious issues. The 747 and 777 also have not-insignificant levels of outsourcing.

Boeing is trying to build airplanes the Airbus way - in large, pre-fabricated sections that can quickly be assembled by a handful of machinists at the factory. It is one of the reasons they will soon shove 40 A320s and 10 A330s/A340s out the door every month.

Boeing and their suppliers underestimated how hard it was to do that and now Boeing has had to go back and assemble ZA001 “the old fashioned way” - from the outside-in starting with an empty shell. And the 787 production line at PAE was not set-up to build planes that way, so now they’re trying to do it without the jigs and stands that you see on the other widebody lines.

Once the suppliers are up to speed (and some shipsets are now in the teens) they will deliver the parts properly pre-fabbed and Boeing will be able to assemble them at the planned rate.

By: Sal (USAF336TFS)

Sal (USAF336TFS) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:53:01 +0000

These last few admissions only strengthen my sense that the amount of work Boeing chose to outsource to the partners when the 787 program was envisioned was way to aggressive.
There is no doubt that the aircraft itself is a sound design. It’s equally apparent that when she does fly, she’ll dramatically change the commercial airline industry itself, much more then her overgrown, bloated, overweight competition.
Boeing MUST, in my view, change fundamentally the production process of this aircraft. It must seriously consider either buying Vought, and/or Alenia or at the very least assume direct control of Global Aeronautica.
With the sheer backlog of the 787, a second production line is no longer a “if” but more of a “when” question.
And that line has to have more Boeing employees on it.