Boeing has increased the production rate at its 787 plant in Charleston, South Carolina, from three to four airplanes per month while construction progresses on a second assembly line expected to allow it eventually to meet a 10-per-month target. The rate increase comes as the company continues what it calls its join verification process to confirm that gaps between airplanes’ fuselage sections do not exceed specified tolerances. Some 90 Dreamliners remain in inventory at the plant in Charleston and in Everett, Washington, following the discovery of minuscule deviations from gap tolerances. The company expects to clear the inventory in Charleston by year-end and the total inventory by the end of next year, Boeing South Carolina site leader Lane Ballard told reporters on Tuesday during a pre-Paris Airshow event at the plant.
While the flaws in the 787 fuselage joins do not present what Boeing calls a safety-of-flight issue, they nevertheless added another element to the company’s troubles in recent years, led by the grounding of the 737 Max between March 2019 and December 2020. Since then, Boeing CEO David Calhoun has directed an effort to reverse the resulting damage to the company’s credibility and recover the reputation for engineering excellence it earned through the decades since its founding. Also appearing in Charleston, Calhoun recalled the challenge he faced when he assumed the leadership of the company in January 2020.
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