Leonardo has sealed a union agreement that will avoid a proposed four-month shut-down of its factory in Grottaglie in southern Italy where it fabricates composite fuselage sections for the Boeing 787.
Disclosing the pact with the Unindustria union, Leonardo says it will “manage the production slowdown”, designed to rebalance supply and demand on the Dreamliner programme.
Instead of the proposed four-month stoppage – revealed in June – the Italian aerospace firm now plans a “partial reduction of production activities”.
That will see plant workers from 29 July until the end of the year alternate between a single shift and partial temporary furlough. Their wages will be guaranteed, it adds.
“The slowdown in the Boeing 787 production and delivery growth rate calls for this measure to temporarily align production capacity with the programme’s reduced short-term requirements,” it says. Increases in the Dreamliner’s production rate are expected from early 2025.
Additional non-787 work has been allocated to Grottaglie to help diversify the business, including building prototype fuselages for the Vertical Aerospace VX4, and the future establishment of a final assembly line for the company’s AW609 tiltrotor.
Originally established to build the carbonfibre structures for the 787, Grottaglie has not been running at full capacity for some time.
Initially hit by the fall in demand caused by Covid-19, the plant has subsequently struggled with lower-than-expected output due issues elsewhere in Boeing’s production system, including several delivery stoppages to deal with quality problems.
