Boeing 787 Dreamliner - Mark Wagner [96]
Shortly after rollout of ZA001, Boeing switched the assembly sequence to give the desperately overstretched production system a forty-five-day breathing space to try to catch up. The result was that fatigue test article ZY998, or line number 9998, moved up the line ahead of the second test aircraft ZA002. Unfortunately the move, though radical, was too little and too late to avoid worsening delays. Mark Wagner
Inadequate oversight of suppliers led to a cascade of problems that stacked up as “traveled work” at Everett, with a drastic impact on the program schedule through 2007 and early 2008. Despite this, progress was made, and the parts for ZA003, which entered final assembly in May 2008, were collectively 65 percent more complete than were those for ZA001 on arrival in Everett. Mark Wagner
May saw the start of final assembly of the third 787, ZA003, parts for which were far more complete than were those for the first two, with about 65 percent less traveled work on arrival at Everett. Surrounded by signs that the system was finally getting into gear, Boeing felt sufficiently comfortable to allow reporters onto the final assembly line for the first time.
The line looked healthy and full of airplanes, with three flying and one fatigue airframe under assembly. But telltale signs of the stress of the past year were all around. The line was cluttered with temporary jigs and support structures more reminiscent of the 1960s than Boeing’s cherished twenty-first-century lean dream. Shanahan said the worst of its final assembly problems were behind it, but cautioned that issues with power systems and electric brake monitoring controls remained as potential obstacles to power-on and the first flight.
Shanahan said, “Technically we’ve activated the factory. We’re getting to the point where the traveled work is low enough that we can activate the factory the way it was intended to be utilized.” The dedicated teams of workers assigned to deal with the traveled work on each airframe were gradually being disbanded. From ZA003 onward, workers would stay at each of four factory positions as airframes moved through to completion.
The 787’s heart pulsed into life for the first time on June 11, 2008, when flashing red lights alongside ZA001 marked the start of the power-on process. ZA001 now began a series of gauntlet tests that would evaluate the entire systems performance prior to airborne testing. At the same time, newly arrived subassemblies were showing significant signs of improved completion. June 5 saw the Mitsubishi-made wing set for ZA006 arrive from Nagoya and, unlike previous wing sets, it was already equipped with fixed leading edges provided by Spirit and fixed trailing edges made by Fuji.
Speaking about the power-on and gauntlet tests a few weeks earlier, Shanahan had warned of potential problems. “That’s really when the fun starts, we can really see how stable the airplane is. So, are there any problems that need to be resolved? Guess what? There will be lots of those. I expect people will run in every half-hour and they’ll drop their grenade, then we’ll dispatch people to deal with those issues.”
But as power-on tests of the hydraulic systems began, the first significant grenade was tossed into Shanahan’s office not from Building 40-26, but instead from South Carolina, where Section 44 for the fourth test aircraft had sustained damage at Global Aeronautica’s facility. An Alenia employee had installed the wrong fasteners while joining the section to the center wingbox. The fasteners had splintered the composite structure around the holes, causing so much damage that the delivery of the entire center section had to be postponed for five weeks—finally arriving at Everett along with Section 41 on August 4.
At the Farnborough