Boeing starts first phase of moving 777 assembly line

Boeing is introducing radical new transport equipment for moving big fuselage barrels within its Everett plant, a key part of its plan to make 777 jet production more efficient and flexible by shifting to a moving assembly line.

The changeover is a delicate logistics challenge, undertaken as Boeing plans a production ramp-up and clears space for 787 production.

As soon as next week, Boeing expects to deploy the first of a set of new 55-ton wheeled trolleys, slung low to the ground and known as "crawlers."

They are highly maneuverable, capable of rotating aircraft sections full circle and can expand or contract to fit the different fuselage lengths of various 777 models.

Boeing designed the crawlers with Nova-Tech Engineering of Lynnwood, which then built the equipment.

Nova-Tech, an engineering company with about 50 employees, also supplied the vehicles that transport rocket tanks in Boeing's Delta IV factory in Decatur, Ala., and the tugs that pull the 737s on the moving assembly line operating in the Renton factory.

Currently, the 777 fuselage sections are lifted by crane into heavy, fixed structures that hold them in place while hydraulic, electrical and other systems are installed, then lifted out by crane to another structure where the sections are joined together.

The crawlers will do the work of both the cranes and the fixed structures.

Next week, the systems installation structure for the 42-ton rear fuselage is due to be removed and the first crawler will be put in place, said Boeing spokesman Chuck Cadena. The forward fuselage systems installation will move onto a crawler during the third quarter of the year.

When both are in place, the systems installation will become a moving line.

The fuselage sections will sit in two cradles atop the crawlers, and mechanics standing on attached work platforms will install the systems as they move forward at a rate of 1.8 inches per minute, following a white line on the factory floor.

The ultimate goal of the ambitious 777 production line remake, explicitly modeled on the Toyota production system, is to have a moving line from this point through final assembly.

Starting sometime in 2007, the crawlers — this time moving at a rate of 10 feet per minute — will also transfer completed fuselage sections from systems installation over to the tooling where the aircraft sections are finally joined together.

The current process of using a crane for these major transfers limits the weight of the airplane sections that can be moved.

With the crawlers, Boeing will be able to move heavier pieces without causing distortion to the airplane structure. That will allow mechanics to install seats, stow bins and other interior fittings earlier in the assembly process.

Nova-Tech has delivered two of the new crawlers to Everett and will deliver six more by the time this phase of the moving line is complete in 2008, said Milton Sigelmann, who manages the company's crawler project.

The net impact on the 777, according to internal company documents, will be to reduce the number of work-flow days — the total time spent assembling one jet — from the current 20 days to 16 days by the middle of next year, to 15 days a year later, then further out to just 12 days.

That dramatic shortening of build time will allow Boeing to adjust the production rate much more quickly, according to the level of orders.

"If we can compact the time it takes to build the airplane ... it allows a lot of flexibility to meet demand," said Cadena. At the end of 2006, according to internal documents, Boeing plans a rate increase from five 777s per month to seven. Shifting the rear fuselage systems work next week will also clear out an assembly bay that is destined for production of the 787.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com