Boeing’s integration center helps keep the Dreamliner on track

EVERETT — At every moment of the day, somewhere in the world, people are building parts for the Boeing Co.’s new 787 Dreamliner.

In a 24-hour-a-day, worldwide production system that includes several hundred-thousand parts, problems arise.

That’s why Boeing opened its 787 Production Integration Center in Everett in December.

“There is a certain mission-control feeling to what we have going on,” said Bob Noble, who oversees Boeing’s complex 787 supply chain, during a media tour last week.

Stationed high above the 787 assembly line at Boeing’s Everett factory, workers inside the control center, dubbed the PIC, have a bird’s-eye view of Dreamliner progress. But take a quick look around the main control room, and you’ll see that controllers use more than just their view of the 787 line to keep the jet on track.

Huge video screens full of information line a large wall. Clocks show the time in Moscow; Rome; Nagoya, Japan; and Charleston, S.C. — all sites of 787 major assembly production. A glance at a chart near the center tracks shipments from those locations. Green means everything’s on track. Red flags a problem.

Boeing doesn’t want any more problems with its 787 jet, which is nearly two years behind schedule. The mostly composite aircraft has won nearly 900 orders so far, despite delays. The company says its fuel-efficient jet not only will save airlines money but will also make passengers more comfortable while flying. Boeing plans to deliver its first 787 in the first quarter of next year to Japan’s All Nippon Airways.

And controllers in the PIC are working round-the-clock to make sure that happens.

With workers in Japan, Italy and the United States clocking in at different times of day, coming up with answers to problems used to be subject to time-difference difficulties.

“We want to know at three o’clock when something goes wrong in Italy,” Noble said.

Boeing’s major partners can log in problems in the shared system. Controllers in the PIC will set a time and assign someone to resolve the issue. They track the problem until it’s resolved.

“It is absolutely speeding up the amount of time it takes to resolve a problem,” Noble said.

The center allows Boeing to detect problems earlier and provides real-time resolutions, Noble said. The company “constantly knows what’s going on in our production system,” he said.

Not only that, but Boeing controllers watch for issues not related to production. A chime will alert controllers that an earthquake of a magnitude of 4.1 or greater has happened within 51 miles of a 787 production site. Constantly streaming newscasts help them watch for floods, tornadoes or widespread illnesses, such as swine flu.

None of Boeing’s major 787 suppliers operates an integration center as sophisticated as Boeing’s. For some, “PIC” means a guy on a laptop. For others, it means a few computers in a room. But all seven major suppliers can meet with Boeing via teleconference to discuss a problem.

Noble said he doesn’t believe that having the center up and running earlier could have saved the 787 from its nearly two-year delay.

“We had a PIC, or a PIC-like device, in the plan for years,” Noble said.

Eventually, Boeing believes it will be able to assemble one Dreamliner every three days in Everett. It will need its PIC controllers then more than ever.

“It lets us work the 24-hour clock,” Noble said.

“The system works really well.”

Boeing’s Production Integration Center