Boeing says that parts shortages on its 747 and Next Generation (NG) 737 assembly lines are "approaching manageable levels", and the company plans to proceed with production-rate increases on both aircraft.
Full production of the 737NG and 747 has resumed after assembly lines were halted to bring out-of-sequence work under control.
Production of the 747 was restarted after a 20-day stoppage during which parts shortages were reduced from more than 500 items to fewer than 100 and the jobs-behind-schedule rate was cut by 80%. Full production of the 737NG has also resumed after a "rebalancing" exercise which reduced parts shortages and jobs behind schedule by 40%.
Boeing says that the challenge now is to sustain those gains while increasing production of the 747 from four to five a month, and that of the 737NG from seven to 14 a month - by April 1998.
"We are pretty pleased with the progress that we have made, but certainly we are apprehensive about how we hold on to that progress," says Boeing president Harry Stonecipher.
Bob Dryden, Boeing's executive vice-president for aircraft production, says that the company is "encouraged" by progress so far with its recovery programme, "but our factories may not be back where they should be until the second quarter of next year".
Boeing expected to deliver 25 aircraft in November - up from 17 in October - and plans to complete 52 in December. The company expects to have delivered 335 aircraft by the end of 1997, slightly less than its original projection, and is forecasting deliveries of more than 500 in 1998.
Source: Flight International
