MUKILTEO — One of Snohomish County’s top aerospace suppliers, ElectroImpact has picked up another big work package on the Boeing 777X.
The airplane maker has tapped ElectroImpact to make the tooling and equipment used in assembling the 777X wingbox, which connects an airplane’s wings to the fuselage.
“It’s not the only big contract we have on the 777X,” said Peter Zieve, the Mukilteo-based company’s owner.
ElectroImpact is building machines to lay down strips of the carbon-fiber composite material for the airplane’s wings. The company is also producing machines to make flaps, ailerons and other flight control surfaces being produced by Boeing’s St. Louis operations.
In all, ElectroImpact has about 200 workers assigned to Boeing 777X work, he said.
The 777X’s wings are so broad — 235 feet from tip to tip — that Boeing is designing the ends to fold up when the plane is on the ground. Folded, the wingspan is nearly 213 feet. Without that feature, the twin-aisle airplane’s wingspan would be too wide for many major airports.
The wings on the Airbus A380 are wider — 262 feet — and don’t fold. Airports have had to modify certain facilities to fit the double-decker airplane wingspan.
Boeing is making the 777X wings at its Everett plant at its Composite Wing Center.
ElectroImpact is still “slowly” expanding, Zieve said.
The company has about 775 employees around the world, with about 625 in Mukilteo.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
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