Boeing scours idle 737 MAX plant for industrial snags | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 11, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 2023
Boeing scours idle 737 MAX plant for industrial snags

World+Biz

Reuters
24 February, 2020, 07:00 pm
Last modified: 24 February, 2020, 07:02 pm

Related News

  • Boeing plans to remarket some 737 MAX jets earmarked for Chinese airlines
  • Boeing deliveries reach highest monthly level since March 2019
  • China satisfied with Boeing 737 MAX changes, seeks industry feedback - document
  • Boeing directors agree to $237.5 million settlement over 737 MAX safety oversight
  • India set to clear Boeing 737 MAX to fly again soon

Boeing scours idle 737 MAX plant for industrial snags

Boeing is also working to reduce instances where workers leave tools, rags and other debris inside jetliners as they build them, a problem at multiple Boeing factories

Reuters
24 February, 2020, 07:00 pm
Last modified: 24 February, 2020, 07:02 pm
FILE PHOTO: Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, US July 1, 2019. Picture taken July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked in an aerial photo at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, US July 1, 2019. Picture taken July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo

Insiders note an "eerie" calm at Boeing Co's 737 MAX factory, formerly a bustling hub that has helped fuel the aviation industry's record growth over the last two decades.

Weeks after halting production of the 737 MAX, which has been grounded for almost a year over fatal crashes, Boeing is seizing on the lull to conduct an overhaul at its Seattle-area factory to curb inefficiency, improve quality and ease the plane's re-entry to the market, four people familiar with the matter said.

Backed by engineers from roughly a dozen suppliers such as fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems and robot maker Electroimpact Inc, Boeing is fixing inventory management, upgrading automated tooling, and addressing "high-defect" areas, three of them said.

Boeing is also working to reduce instances where workers leave tools, rags and other debris inside jetliners as they build them, a problem at multiple Boeing factories. On Friday, Boeing said it found "foreign object debris" inside dozens of stored 737 MAX jets, and was investigating the cause.

A Boeing spokesman said the company was using this time to work closely with suppliers on a dozen initiatives to improve the overall health of its production system.

"The objective is to ensure a healthy and stable system that is ready for resuming production and increasing rates at the appropriate time," the spokesman, Bernard Choi, said.

While Boeing has long said the Renton plant is already the most efficient in aviation, such longstanding problems were viewed as too risky to address during years of helter-skelter production to meet record jet demand.

Even before the 737 MAX grounding, the production of aircraft wings had been partially automated by robots. But concerns that missteps might harm deliveries, hurting profit, prevented a complete forensic study of the decades-old plant, two of the people said.

Now, Boeing and other aerospace companies are focusing more attention on improving production systems rather than adding to their already-bulging order books. And for Boeing, the hushed MAX assembly lines have abruptly brought that effort into sharper focus.

While production stability is expected to prevail over market share in the short term, fine-tuning the plant could help determine the MAX's market position over the long term.

Analysts say Boeing has historically led rival Airbus SE in production technology, but the European group has made reversing this a top priority under CEO Guillaume Faury.

"You have this duopoly with high barriers to entry and enormous backlogs and no new product launches for years to come," said Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia, referring to Boeing and Airbus. "The only thing left to focus on is building jets and keeping costs down."

'HIGH-DEFECT' AREAS

Part of the effort involves reducing "high-defect" areas, or situations where the quality of a part deviates from airline specifications - which can result in costly rework.

If the defect is bad enough to require changes, Boeing must flag that the airplane has been repaired and the airline customer pays less - akin to a discount for a scratch on a new car, one of the people said.

"Defects and rework are a big deal, they are extremely parasitic to factory efficiency and part quality," he said. "Now they have the down time, so this is the time to deal with it."

Another initiative is redesigning kits, made up of tools and parts, to be smaller and more manageable, said Choi, the Boeing spokesman. "Kitting" eliminates a mechanic's need to search for the right tools.

While all manufacturers chase inefficiency, jet factories around the world have been flat out for years without pauses for model switches seen in automotive plants, for example, and any tinkering usually has to fit in alongside full-speed narrowbody production.

The shutdown has therefore handed Boeing the chance to seize an industrial opportunity out of its worst-ever crisis.

Even so, some issues are difficult to solve.

A high proportion of fuselages have been getting flagged on arrival for unacceptable defects such as loose rivets, scratches, and construction errors, which causes delays, a fifth person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Even dents that are scarcely visible to the naked eye must be addressed before the jet takes flight.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the work at Boeing is confidential.

Spirit and Electroimpact declined to comment and referred questions to Boeing.

The 737 MAX is the company's lifeblood, bringing in some 40 percent of Boeing's profit before the aircraft was grounded and deliveries frozen last March.

When the 737 MAX is approved to fly, potentially later this year, the planemaker aims to progress cautiously, reaching a pre-grounding production rate of 52 jets monthly in 2022, and bumping it up to 57 jets a month - which would equal its record rate - in 2023, supplier sources said.

Boeing 737 Max

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Coal coming to feed hungry power plants 
    Coal coming to feed hungry power plants 
  • City polls: 83% of centres in Barishal, 56% in Khulna identified as risky
    City polls: 83% of centres in Barishal, 56% in Khulna identified as risky
  • Photo: Reuters
    Manchester City win first Champions League title, beat Inter 1-0 to also clinch a historic treble

MOST VIEWED

  • A barge on the Trent and Mersey Canal is seen in Marbury, Britain, 26 October, 2022. REUTERS/Molly Darlington
    Lessons from the original Industrial Revolution
  • FILE PHOTO: A view of the US Embassy beside the Anti-Imperialist stage in Havana, Cuba, 24 May, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
    US gives Havana embassy a facelift after years of neglect
  • Fumio Kishida stands by Volodymyr Zelenskiyy. Photographer: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
    Ukraine's survival is vital to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan
  • Spending everywhere has shifted from services to goods under lockdown. Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg
    Cheaper food commodities prompt calls for retail price cuts
  • Residents gather outside the Pearl Beach Restaurant following an attack by Al Shabaab militants at the Liido beach in Mogadishu, Somalia, 10 June, 2023. REUTERS/Feisal Omar
    Nine killed in restaurant attack in Somali capital
  • A man rides a cycle along main road as less vehicles are on the road due to fuel shortage, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 28 June 2022. Photo: Reuters
    Sri Lanka lifts import limits on 286 items as crisis eases

Related News

  • Boeing plans to remarket some 737 MAX jets earmarked for Chinese airlines
  • Boeing deliveries reach highest monthly level since March 2019
  • China satisfied with Boeing 737 MAX changes, seeks industry feedback - document
  • Boeing directors agree to $237.5 million settlement over 737 MAX safety oversight
  • India set to clear Boeing 737 MAX to fly again soon

Features

Photo: Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire. Photo: C. Michael Hogan, Wikimedia commons.

Life in the Wild: Entering the magic world of wildlife filming

15h | Panorama
Every floor of this school has three to four bedrooms, with 15 to 18 children in each of them. Photo: Saqlain Rizve

What an average boarding school looks like in Dhaka

19h | Panorama
The mystique of Serajul Alam Khan

The mystique of Serajul Alam Khan

1d | Panorama
Yamaha MT-15 V2

Top 3 150-160cc naked sports bikes in Bangladesh

1d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

Japan Aim to boost trade with Bangladesh

Japan Aim to boost trade with Bangladesh

14h | TBS Face to Face
You have to pay a premium if wait for good days

You have to pay a premium if wait for good days

16h | TBS Markets
Stats of Europe’s Top 5 League

Stats of Europe’s Top 5 League

1d | TBS SPORTS
13 helpful tips to negotiate about job

13 helpful tips to negotiate about job

2d | TBS Career

Most Read

1
Photo: Noor-A-Alam/TBS
Splash

The Night Dhaka did NOT vibe with Anuv Jain

2
Photo: TBS
Energy

2nd unit of Payra power plant to shut down over coal shortage

3
Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital
Banking

Digital bank licence requires Tk125cr capital

4
Photo: Screengrab from a video posted by a NSU student
Energy

'Will collapse any moment': NSU teachers, students raise concern after long power outage hit country's largest private uni

5
bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership
Banking

bKash denied permission to pay $4.10 lakh for Argentina football partnership

6
FILE PHOTO: A passenger plane is seen with the moon behind as it flies over London, Britain, January 4, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Aviation

Bangladesh withholds $214m in airline funds; 2nd among top 5 countries: IATA

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]