MELBOURNE, FL—Embraer has broken ground for a new assembly plant here that could employ 600 people. Expected to be operational by 2016, the facility will produce the company’s Legacy 500 and Legacy 450 jets.
ASHEVILLE, NC—GE Aviation celebrated the opening of its new advanced composites factory here. The new 170,000-square-foot facility will be the first in the world to mass-produce engine components made of advanced ceramic matrix composite materials.
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.
Every year, fans of the Winter X games see snowmobile racers battle the elements and the laws of gravity to perform amazing feats—including long distance jumps and double back flips. What the fans don’t see is the ongoing battle between fasteners and vibration within every bolted joint of the snowmobile.
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.
WASHINGTON—NASA’s new Vertical Assembly Center, a 170-foot-high machine that will be used to assemble elements of the agency’s Space Launch System, is ready to weld parts for the rocket that will send humans to an asteroid and Mars.
MOBILE, AL—Airbus is hiring the latest wave of quality inspectors for its assembly plant under construction here. The hourly pay for these positions ranges from $20 to $23.50 based on skills, education and experience.