Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Mark Wagner [88]
“We are really into that ‘crunch’ time of moving from the engineering and testing part of the program and into assembly. Just about every major work package is into fabrication, and we’re ramping up globally. We’re also beginning the delivery phase for the electronics into various labs,” he said. Yet Strode was aware of the growing rumors of development delays, systems and structural problems, and schedule slips. He acknowledged, “There is a similar pattern to all these programs. We are a little late on getting some of the engineering out, and we are compressing the schedule to accommodate that. There are a few critical areas we are behind on and we’re working hard on those.”
One such area was materials. “We’ve had a lot of tough struggles in obtaining big titanium forgings,” said Strode, echoing earlier warnings from Mike Bair, who described the raw material as a “watch item, because this aircraft consumes an enormous amount of titanium. Right now there is a pinch point in the market for titanium.” Strode’s chief worry at this point appeared to be putting it all together. “Hardware deliveries in terms of systems are not an area we are concerned about. What we are concerned about most is the integration of the systems and software and validating all the functionality. We have got all that going on through the rest of the year.”
Strode also openly acknowledged the massive gamble the new 787 production system represented. “We have a great deal of concurrency with the design, build, and test activity all going on, which carries inherent risk. However, all in all, the testing has gone better than expected, though we still have a lot of big ones coming up. But so far, knock on wood, we’ve had good results!”
As the rush to final assembly began, Strode identified four main targets. “Number one is getting the first complete composite airframe on its way through its layup and curing—that’s really critical. Second is the manufacturing of all the parts in the supply chain and the orchestration of that. Number three—we certainly want to keep on track with the development of systems, and the testing of their functionality in the labs. Fourth, we need the engine programs to get the data they need, and for them to keep building hours. Those are the big watch items.”
WEIGHT WATCHER
But despite the confident public face, further signs that all was not entirely well continued to emerge. In late October 2006, Boeing revealed a larger than expected ramp-up in R&D spending, to $450 million for the year. Some 60 percent higher than first predicted, the increase was partly due to the start of work on the newly launched 747-8. But at least half was attributed to the 787.
McNerney said that the nonstop fight against weight, which he described as a “dogged issue,” was partly to blame, but he was otherwise bullish on the spending, which he characterized as “pretty aggressive contingency planning.” Boeing revealed that it was pouring resources into combating “traveled work,” a phrase guaranteed to send shivers up the spine of any Boeing employee who could recall the chaos this caused during the production crisis in the late 1990s.
Traveled, or out-of-sequence work, meant that tasks scheduled to be undertaken at a certain point in the production process had to be performed at another time, and sometimes another place. This generally resulted from parts or systems not being delivered at the right time or, in the case of a new program, simply not being ready in time. The resulting knock-on disruption to other parts of the assembly process could easily get out of hand, as all who experienced the earlier production meltdown knew only too well.
To counter the traveled work, Boeing prepared to temporarily undertake some final assembly work on wiring and other systems that, under the production plan, was supposed to be performed by suppliers before delivery at the Everett assembly site. Boeing reassured investors that the measures would probably only be required for the first one or two aircraft. Financial analysts Bernstein Research said “the additional