The Boeing Co. marked progress on its new 787 factory in Charleston, S.C., placing the first steel beam at the site today.
“This new facility will expand our production capability and strengthen the 787 program as we work toward rate,” said Marco Cavazzoni, Boeing’s vice president and general manager of 787 Final Assembly and Delivery, Charleston, in a statement.
Boeing workers in Charleston already fabricate, assemble and install systems for 787 aft fuselage sections and join midbody fuselage sections from Boeing’s other partners.
In the new 1.2-million-square-foot building, Boeing Charleston workers will perform final assembly and deliver 787s to customers around the world.
The company is roughly two years behind schedule on its 787 Dreamliner. Boeing plans to deliver the first 787 later this year. After that, the company faces the challenge of ramping up production to its goal of 10 Dreamliners monthly.
To accommodate the ramp up, Boeing announced last fall that it had selected Charleston, over Everett, as the site for its second 787 final assembly line.
Boeing said today that construction is on schedule in Charleston to begin production there in July 2011.
The company has 866 orders for its 787 Dreamliner.
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