Boeing Co. said Wednesday that final assembly of the 787-10, the newest and longest member of its Dreamliner family, will take place only in North Charleston.
The company will keep assembling the 787-8 and 787-9 at both North Charleston and its plant in Everett, Wash. Design of the 787-10 is underway in Everett, and final assembly of the first one is scheduled to begin in South Carolina in 2017, Boeing said.
“We looked at all our options and found the most efficient and effective solution is to build the 787-10 at Boeing South Carolina,” said Larry Loftis, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. “This will allow us to balance 787 production across the North Charleston and Everett sites as we increase production rates.”
The reason is largely size. The 787-10 will be 18 feet longer than the 787-9, and 10 feet of that stretch is in the midbody section, Boeing said. That makes the midbody too long to ship efficiently from North Charleston, where systems integration work is performed, to Everett for final assembly.
Building the jet in North Charleston also takes advantage of that plant’s capacity while Everett works on improving productivity on the 787-8 and 787-9, according to Boeing.
The 787 is built on three lines: two in Everett, including a temporary surge line, and one in North Charleston. Together they turn out 10 airplanes a month, a rate Boeing plans to raise to 12 in 2016 and 14 by the end of the decade.
Everett will keep building seven a month. North Charleston will grow from three a month now to five in 2016 and seven by the end of the decade, the company said.
Boeing launched the 787-10 in June 2013, and it has since won 132 orders from six customers. The 787 family as a whole has more than 1,000 orders, and Boeing has delivered more than 165 of the jets to 21 customers.
“We’re happy with our growth and success in South Carolina, and the continued success at both sites gives us confidence in our plan going forward,” Loftis said.
