Aerospace Assembly

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Assemblers know that practice makes perfect when it comes to properly operating a fastening tool. They also know the importance of tool preparation, which includes torque testing and calibration.

Imagine a world without dependable global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Air and sea transportation would stop, and militaries would be blinded.

New technology is often a paradox—offering increased capability but at great expense with a long ROI.

EVERETT, WA—Boeing has begun construction on its $1 billion 777X Composite Wing Center here. The facility will make the largest wings Boeing has ever built—114 feet long and 23 feet wide.

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.

AUBURN, WA—Production of fuselage stringers for the first Boeing 737 MAX has begun at the company’s assembly plant here.

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.