While workers in Everett will assemble the Boeing Co.’s newest commercial jet, companies spread from Japan to Italy will build huge sections of the 7E7.
From the beginning, Boeing has said the 7E7 will be built differently than Boeing’s previous models. It will use more lightweight composite materials, and suppliers will construct larger parts that can then be flown or shipped to the final assembly plant in Everett.
Japanese suppliers will provide more than one-third of the major parts for the 7E7, including the majority of the wing structures. For comparison, a little more than 20 percent of the 777 is built by Japanese firms.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries will all share work on the wings and part of the fuselage.
Mike Bair, a Boeing senior vice president who is heading the 7E7 program, said last month that Boeing’s own plants in this country will build about 37 percent of the plane’s structural parts.
The Frederickson plant south of Tacoma will manufacture the vertical tail fin, while the leading edges of the wings will be made in Tulsa, Okla. The flight deck and forward part of the fuselage will be built in Wichita, Kan. Boeing divisions in Australia and Canada also will contribute parts of the plane’s structure.
Aerospace suppliers Vought Aircraft Industries, based in Dallas, and Alenia Aeronautica of Italy are teaming up to build the horizontal stabilizer and the center and aft fuselage, about one-quarter of the 7E7 structure.
In another change from Boeing’s earlier models, the suppliers will do much of their own detailed design work on the portions they build. Previously, Boeing handled much of the detailed design. The overall engineering and design team for the plane will continue to be based in Everett.
Bair said Boeing still needs to decide on suppliers for the remaining 4 percent of the plane, including the doors. A decision on who will supply the 7E7’s engines also is expected next year.
Boeing officials maintained that the recent decision on who is supplying parts for the 7E7 had no effect on determining the final assembly site.
They also said the decision to use more overseas suppliers wasn’t strictly a cost-of-labor issue. But the trend toward outsourcing more design and manufacturing work has worried workers and their unions at Boeing’s plants around the Puget Sound region.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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