Boeing is introducing several improvements on its Boeing 767 assembly line as it ramps up production to meet higher commercial demand and a potential tanker order from the US Air Force.
The new vice president and general manager for Boeing's 767 programme, Kim Pastega, says the manufacturer is now in the process of moving the 767 production operation to a single bay at Everett, resulting in an almost 40% reduction in footprint. At the same time Boeing is investing in new tooling and lean production techniques which are already in place on the 737 and 777 lines.
Pastega says the move of the production line is currently underway "and we'll finish early next year". She says the new space will be able to accommodate a production rate of at least two aircraft per month.
"We're planning on two airplanes per month with capability to do more if we need to," Pastera says, explaining that "with some extra time we can do more".
Speaking to Flightglobal following a 27 September rally at Everett for the KC-767 NewGen Tanker programme, Pastera says Boeing is currently producing 1.5 767s per month. She says production will "go another step up early next year" and hit the planned rate of two aircraft per month by mid 2011.
The current ramp up is "based on commercial demand" with about half the 767s currently being produced as passenger aircraft and half as freighters. Pastera says Boeing plans to keep producing the 767 for commercial customers "as long as we have demand" but "the eventual plan is for the tanker to take over".
Boeing currently has an order backlog for the 767 of 55 aircraft but with 787 deliveries slated to finally begin early next year new passenger orders are unlikely.
Pastera says the new 767 production capacity of two aircraft per month is designed to meet the USAF's new tanker requirement. The USAF, which is also evaluating a tanker based on the Airbus A330, requires 179 aircraft and two deliveries per month once the high rate production phase is reached.
Pastera says the lean production techniques being introduced on the 767 line will help reduce production times in Everett. This in turn will allow Everett to deliver 767s more quickly to Boeing's Wichita facility, where the aircraft will be modified into tankers.
Pastera declined to say how fast she expects to produce 767s once all the improvements are in place but says on the 777 a 24% improvement in production times were achieved by introducing lean manufacturing techniques. Pastera was in charge of 777 manufacturing at Everett before she took over as 767 programme manager and 767 tanker programme deputy manager in August.
"We're following on what we've been doing on the 737 and 777," she says. "We're taken those very same philosophies and incorporating them onto our line ... We're really trying to take the best practices across all of our programmes."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
