At the Boeing site in West Jordan, Utah, Fabrication specialist David Limon (left) and Kari Larkin, a manufacturing engineer, work with composite materials that form some of Boeing’s newest airplanes. They use a high-tech overhead “blanket” to remove air that can get trapped between the material’s layers.
Called a “smart susceptor” blanket, this same innovation helps engineers Scott Fisher (left) and John Henry examine composite layers before they’re heated and compressed. For a task that used to require the site’s autoclave, this blanket solution saves time and cost.
3D PRINTING
In El Segundo, California, engineer Patrick Pattamanuch cleans up a 3D-printed part for a new satellite. Across the company, Boeing employees are scaling up 3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing – to produce metal and polymer parts for spacecraft such as the CST-100 Starliner, satellites and airplanes as well as factory tools.
Kim Hong (shown) and other assembly technicians at subsidiary Spectrolab in Sylmar, California, use mobile computer carts, rather than paper manuals, as they wire huge solar panels for spacecraft. These wireless carts are not just tidier. They also help streamline communications with engineers, said technician Veronica Hoffman.
EXOSKELETONS
Employees who build commercial airplanes in North Charleston, South Carolina, are testing advanced exoskeletons — external wearable devices used to increase mechanical leverage, strength or speed. The wearable tech reduces strain and injury risk for employees on the line.
WEARABLE TECH
MOVING LINES
Boeing’s final assembly factories use moving production lines, a concept now employed to produce 737 MAX flight decks at Boeing Fabrication in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 777X flight-deck consoles produced here also use 3D-printed components to minimize the number of parts.
Automated tools in Frederickson, Washington, drill thousands of holes in composite empennage, or tail, units for the 777 and 787 and install stringers in 777 and 777X wing structures. The site’s mechanics also use optical laser templates to efficiently apply composite tape layers on airplane tails and stabilizers, an idea borrowed from the Fabrication site in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Many teams across Boeing are using “smart factory” viewing tools that show productivity metrics on a visual representation of the factory floor, like this one in St. Louis.
ROBOTICS
Employees at Boeing Fabrication in Auburn, Washington, use robotic machines to clean tools and produce advanced heat shields for commercial airplanes.
At the heart of these advancements, large and small, are employees with innovative ideas, said Jared McKie, a 787 manufacturing manager in Everett, Washington.
We need to make sure people are an active part of this evolution — it’s really a revolution. It’s our people’s intelligence and drive that make all this possible.
Story by
Eric Fetters-Walp
Photos by
Paul Pinner, Mike Irvine, Joshua Drake, Eric Shindelbower, Marian Lockhart and David Merwin
Related Content
Modern family
Across Boeing, advanced technologies that once seemed futuristic are now just part of the flow. Every day, employees use augmented reality, robots, automated vehicles, 3D printers and more.
