The alacrity with which Boeing assumed control of the former Vought plant in South Carolina this past summer, secured the necessary construction approvals for an
adjacent factory and reached a decision on the ultimate location of a second 787 Dreamliner assembly line had already led to skepticism about the company’s commitment to negotiating with its workers based around Washington state’s Puget Sound. Nothing management could say or do after announcing on October 28 that it would locate the new line in north Charleston, S.C., would change that fact.
So the company wasted no time breaking ground on a site directly adjacent to the existing Boeing Charleston plant this month, in time, it hopes, to roll out its first airplane from the new factory in 2012. Indeed, Boeing’s ability to promptly accelerate 787 production will prove vital to a program beset by technical glitches and organizational turmoil since management announced the initial delay to first flight some two and half years ago. Still yet to fly, the 787 nevertheless maintains a backlog of 840 airplanes. Along with getting the airplane in the air and certified by the end of next year, filling those orders–and mitigating the threat of ballooning late-delivery penalties–must now stand as among the program’s top priorities.
