Posted on 09/04/2007 8:56:32 AM PDT by skeptoid
According to sources with direct knowledge at both ends of the major sub-assembly supply chain, temporary parts, including fasteners, are causing significant slow downs in the 787 program.
The source of the slowdown in progress on Dreamliner One originated in the rush to meet the July 8th roll out. The push to achieve this milestone forced supply chain partners to use over-the-counter parts and prevented assembly teams from being able to document the location of these temporary fasteners on the first 787.
It is.
There has been a mysterious lack of news on the Dreamliner and this is the first update I've come across.
(flightblogger has 'inside sources')
They banished your post to the Blogs topic. No longer in news.
Apparently not only not breaking news, but not news at all.
Here’s a hint. Don’t overreach. If you had put it in news, but not tagged it for breaking news, it might not have gotten kicked to ‘bloggers’ quite so quickly.
If I put a pit bull story in breaking news, I expect it wouldn’t last long. I drop it in chat, and the mods leave me alone.
Before anyone starts using “outsourced” and “safety” in the same sentence, make sure you know what you are talking about. Boeing Quality is by our side the entire time.
Keep in mind that the tail was damaged at disassembly by “skilled union workers”.
“No Cleco’s?”
LOL! I’ve seen one that they were towing out of the hanger door that had Cleco’s still in it. Morons!
“That’s what happens when you try to put a plane together with pop-rivets.”
Actually, they do have pop-rivets for aircraft, they’re called Cherry Fasteners.
Good trick - you got me with that circular link back to this thread.
Let me correct myself about outsourcing. I should have said off shore outsourcing. Boeing has always relied on a cottage industry of part suppliers, they helped build the Puget Sound area. We are on the same page concerning the unions.
2 things come into play here. Since 9/11 there had been so little demand for aircraft fasteners that many suppliers dried up. Some were “absorbed” by other fastener companies and some merely dumped all their inventory as scrap. Secondly due to all the new requirements pertaining to new composites, new fasteners had to be invented.
There is a big helicopter maker in Connecticut that is unable to secure fasteners that have been engineered into their products.
Their complaint is that the 787 is sucking up all the world’s existing stock.
I think this is a problem, with the potential to become major, that no one ever considered.
There is a lot of cost involved in the mfr of a simple aircraft rivet or screw...testing, material records, records retention, etc.
I would hate to be he poor sap involved in those logistics!
I was happier not knowing that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.