EVERETT — If there is a Disneyland at the Boeing Co.’s factory in Everett, then that’s where the company kicked off production Tuesday of its 777 Freighter.
The day before Boeing reports its 2007 earnings, the company marked the beginning of major assembly on its latest cargo jet by loading the 777 Freighter’s wing spar into its first position. The sixth and newest model of the 777 family, the freighter accounts for more than 20 percent of the 777’s backlog of 357 unfilled orders.
“The spar shop is one of the happiest places on Earth — just like Disneyland,” said Elizabeth Lund, director of 777 manufacturing.
Boeing will hope some of that happiness carries over as the company provides its fourth quarter 2007 results early today. The company’s shares rose 4.3 percent to $80.96 Tuesday. After pushing back deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner jet, analysts will be anxious to see both Boeing’s earnings and its assurances for getting back on track.
The company demonstrated Tuesday, however, that its latest freighter is poised to meet its schedule.
“It continues the journey of the 777 program,” said Larry Loftis, Boeing’s vice president of the 777. “I think it really starts a new era in Boeing freighter history.”
Workers took the first step in major assembly for the new 777 Freighter by loading the wing spar into the Automated Spar Assembly Tool — a device that automatically drills, measures and installs more than 5,000 fasteners into the spar. The spar runs through the full length of the wings, providing support.
“The spar is actually the backbone of the wing,” said Bob Murphy, who has worked on the 777 assembly line in Everett since its inception and serves as a line manager in the wing spar area.
The 777 spars are built in either Boeing’s Frederickson or Auburn factories and are driven up to Everett on a long truck. The spar assembly area is in building separate from the main production factory. The spars spend nine days in the facility, which includes time on automated spar assembly tool, hand drilling, inspection and sealing.
“Every 777 starts here,” Murphy said, while walking along the roughly 120-foot-long front spar.
Other 777 components come from Boeing’s global partners. Spirit sends the composite leading edge from Scotland. Japan’s Fuji, Kawasaki and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries provide more than 20 percent of the 777 Freighter’s body. Mitsubishi will ship its first 777 Freighter aft fuselage panel from Japan today. The shipment should reach Everett in early February.
Kim Pastega, deputy program manager and engineering leader, noted that the 777 Freighter has several more milestones to reach in 2008, including the beginning of the flight-test program, certification from the Federal Aviation Administration and first delivery to Air France late in the year.
Loftis downplayed speculation that flight testing on Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner jet could interfere with flight certification for the 777 Freighter.
“It will have no impact,” he said.
The freighter flight-test program will be less rigorous than the 787 because much of the 777’s capability already has been proven with the passenger models.
Boeing begins building its 777 Freighter as the company also increases its use of a moving production line, Lund said. The company put segments of the production line in motion in 2006. Its goal is to have the entire U-shaped production line moving by the end of 2008. Boeing first implemented the “moving” production line concept with its single-aisle 737 jet in Renton with the intent of streamlining assembly and cutting costs.
The 777 Freighter is based on the 777-200 Longer Range passenger airplane and will be built along the same production line as all other models of the 777. Some of the changes in manufacturing for the 777 Freighter include installation of items such as the main-deck cargo door; a new monolithic aluminum floor; a lightweight cargo-handling system; and a rigid cargo barrier located in the forward section of the airplane. The main cargo-deck door of the 777 Freighter is sized to ease direct-transfer shipments with the 747 freighter fleet, which Boeing says provides about half of the world’s freighter capacity.
Pastega said the 777 Freighter has been well received by the marketplace, with a customer base that includes traditional cargo carriers and leasing operators. To date, Boeing has sold 80 777 Freighters to 11 customers. Even new Boeing employees, such as Gabriella Espinoza-Wingerter, who joined Boeing last year, are looking forward to working on the first freighter.
“It’s pretty cool being on the first one,” Espinoza-Wingerter said. “It’s nice to say, ‘I built that.’”
For more on the Boeing Co., visit reporter Michelle Dunlop’s aerospace blog at Heraldnet.com. She can be reached at 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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