EVERETT — A year after the project was launched, Boeing’s new 777X airliner is taking physical shape.
The company is developing prototypes for wing spars — the wing’s backbone — and the hardware needed for their mass production, a Boeing spokesman said.
“We have some early builds of the spars,” said Scott Lefeber, a spokesman for Boeing’s 777X program.
He declined to elaborate. But people familiar with the program said a rear spar prototype is finished and a front spar prototype should be finished next month. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk publicly about the program.
“The manufacturing technology, we’re working through that,” Lefeber said.
The spars are made by machines designed and built by Mukilteo-based ElectroImpact, a couple of miles from Boeing’s Everett plant at Paine Field where the 777X will be produced.
The North American division of Germany-based Durr is in the running for making machines to trim and drill the wing spars, according to the sources familiar with the program. Boeing declined to comment. Durr did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Some wing components also will be made at Boeing’s St. Louis facility, where the defense and space division produces the F-15 and F-18.
The 777X airliner’s wings — spars, ribs and skin — will be made from carbon-fiber- composite materials, making them lighter, stronger and more durable than the traditional metal alloys used to make airframes today.
The massive wings will be cooked in giant autoclaves at Boeing’s Everett plant. The sprawling wing production building is under construction on the north side of the main factory building, which will house the 777X assembly line.
Developing prototypes and the production process happens even as Boeing engineers are finishing an airplane’s design.
“We are in the top-level design phase for the program” and on track to finish firm configuration in 2015, Lefeber said.
Firm configuration is a major milestone, moving an airplane to the assembly line from a cocktail-napkin sketch. It means the plane’s basic design and capabilities have been nailed down.
After that, Boeing and suppliers can start detailed design of specific parts. That phase, called detail configuration, is scheduled to be completed in 2016, Lefeber said.
Production is slated to start the following year, with the plane entering service with airlines in 2020.
The tight schedule leaves little room for problems, say aerospace industry analysts.
Along with the smaller 787 Dreamliner, Boeing executives expect the 777X to dominate long-haul passenger air service around the world.
Building the wings here puts Washington on the cutting edge of composite-materials manufacturing, which has applications in car manufacturing and other industries, as well.
Boeing decided to put the 777X assembly line and wing production in Everett after the state passed a huge tax break package and the Chicago-based company’s shopfloor workers agreed to a concession-laden contract.
Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
