A New Kind of Airliner
Boeing's next-generation 787 airliner—nicknamed Dreamliner—was conceived as a wholly new kind of commercial airliner. Not only would it be made of light but strong carbon composites instead of aluminum, but it would be assembled in the U.S. of parts made by subcontractors around the world.
Grounded
Getting those partners to work together has proven difficult, however. Plagued with supply chain and design problems, the Dreamliner project is years behind schedule. In this photo, unfinished Dreamliners sit on the factory floor in Everett, Washington, in February, awaiting parts from suppliers.
Old Reliable
Meanwhile, Boeing has fallen back on churning out copies of its
14-year-old 777, here in its Everett factory. While the Dreamliner has languished, the aging (but still profitable) 777 remains in demand.
Double Barreled
Keeping up a steady flow of 777s is important to Boeing's commercial aviation business for the revenue it brings in. Cancellations and late-fee payments in the Dreamliner program are expected to cost the company $10 billion.
Awaiting Takeoff
What's not clear is whether production of other models—here the landing gear for a 777 awaits installation on the factory floor—can tide Boeing over until the Dreamliner program takes off. A lot is at stake: Boeing is the country's No. 1 exporter.
Bare Bones
A section of unfinished 777 fuselage. A machinists strike last fall brought Boeing production to a halt, contributing to a 6.2 percent fall in the entire country's economic output during the fourth quarter.
Mulally's Masterpiece
A 777 photographed while under construction on a moving assembly line on February 23. Built by Alan Mulally, now CEO of Ford Motor Co., the 777 was the first airplane digitally designed and preassembled on a computer. The program cemented Boeing's reputation as one of the world's most admired manufacturers—a reputation now being eroded by problems with the Dreamliner.
A New Approach
Concerns about the Dreamliner's development costs led Boeing to farm out much of the design, fabrication, and subassembly work to suppliers around the globe. Whole sections of the plane, stuffed with assembled components, systems, ducting, insulation, and wiring, are shipped to Everett for final assembly. The problem: Delays by any one subcontractor hold up everything.
An Old Success
Across the factory floor from the partially built Dreamliners is the automated assembly line for 777s. Efficiencies in that line have cut assembly time 21 percent and eliminated 20 percent of mistakes. By those measures, Boeing is at least four years ahead of its European rival, Airbus. But they are still results that the Dreamliner program can only, well, dream about.
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All Together Now
