Boeing to assemble 787-10 exclusively at South Carolina facility

Boeing announced (30-Jul-2014) final assembly of the 787-10, the newest and longest member of the 787 family, will take place exclusively in North Charleston, South Carolina. Boeing will continue to assemble both 787-8s and 787-9s in Everett, Washington, and North Charleston. Final assembly of the first 787-10 scheduled to begin in South Carolina in 2017. The 787-10 fuselage midbody section is too long to be transported efficiently from North Charleston, where systems integration work is performed, to the Everett facility for final assembly. In addition, introducing the 787-10 in North Charleston takes advantage of that facility's capacity while allowing the Everett facility to continue improving productivity as it focuses on the 787-8 and 787-9. Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP and general manager, 787 program Larry Loftis said: "We looked at all our options and found the most efficient and effective solution is to build the 787-10 at Boeing South Carolin,. This will allow us to balance 787 production across the North Charleston and Everett sites as we increase production rates." The 787 production system includes three production lines: two in Everett (including a temporary surge line) and one in South Carolina. The integrated production system currently operates at a production rate of 10 airplanes per month. As announced last year, the 787 production rate will increase to 12 per month in 2016 and 14 per month by the end of the decade. The Everett facility will continue to assemble seven airplanes per month, while Boeing South Carolina final assembly will gradually increase from three 787s per month today to five per month in 2016 and seven per month by the end of the decade. [more - original PR]