CHICAGO—The Boeing Co. projects air cargo traffic will grow at an annual rate of 4.7 percent over the next 20 years, with global air freight traffic expected to more than double by 2033.
Manually assembling small parts isn’t that difficult. Inserting a screw into a hole or a wire into a connector is simply a matter of hand-eye coordination. Assembling larger parts, like, say, the multiton fuselage sections of a jetliner, is whole other matter.
EVERETT, WA—Kuka Aerospace plans to open a new 29,000-square-foot facility here adjacent to Boeing’s assembly plant. The facility will employ 75 people when fully operational.
SEATTLE—Boeing has pushed some factory work on the 787 Dreamliner to the uncovered tarmac outside its assembly plant in Washington state in an effort to keep churning out the popular plane at a rate of one every three days. At the same time, at least 16 Italian-made fuselage sections for the 787 have stacked up in a Boeing hangar in Wichita, KS, rather than being shipped directly to the factory, a sign of changes in the production process.
NORTH CHARLESTON, SC—Boeing may now proceed with development of almost 500 acres near its assembly plant here. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the aerospace company’s plans to offset the loss of wetlands at the site by preserving nearly 4,000 acres near the Francis Marion National Forest northeast of Charleston.
EVERETT, WA—Boeing may deploy robots on its airplane assembly lines as early as next year. The company has been testing its Fuselage Automated Upright Build technology in secret over the past year and has found success drilling rivet holes on 777 fuselages. Boeing believes the FAUB will improve workplace safety and production speed.
SEATTLE—A Chinese citizen was charged with plotting to steal data from U.S. defense contractors, including a successful hack of Boeing’s computer system, amid an expanding crackdown on industrial espionage by China.
SHANGHAI—Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China has opened a cavernous assembly plant near the airport here that will soon produce a rival to the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320.
RIVULET, MT—Boeing Co. has sent technicians to the site of a train derailment here that dumped six 737 fuselages and other aircraft components into a Montana river as they were being transported to a Washington state assembly plant.