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 The robotic system, known as the Panel Assembly Line, or PAL, this
week drilled holes and installed rivets for the wings of a
production aircraft, the first such use of the system since
installation began last summer, Boeing officials told Reuters during
a visit to the Renton, Washington, plant.
PAL replaces older-generation machines that drilled the panels, but
left workers the task of installing rivets, a laborious process that
led to occasional injuries and defects.
PAL is designed to cut injuries in half, slash defects by 66 percent
and reduce production "flow" time by 33 percent - all on half of the
factory footprint.
Its start-up was widely awaited because the 737 factory accounts for
two-thirds of the planes Boeing makes and PAL will help enable the
company to boost production.
Inside the factory, a 60-ton, blue machine, looking something like a
futuristic car wash, glides silently on hidden rails over a wing
panel held in a jig.
With a quiet "hiss" the machine zips holes into the metal wing panel
and installs rivets, connecting pieces known as stringers to what
will become the bottom surface of a wing.
Five machines, made outside Seattle by Electroimpact Inc, have been
erected in the plant. Boeing will install eight in total, with a
ninth as a spare. They replace older machines made by Gemcor, based
in West Seneca, New York.
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Boeing's two assembly lines in Renton make 42 of its 737 jetliners a
month in competition with the Airbus <AIR.PA> A320. Boeing plans to
increase that to 47 and then 52 a month by 2018.
This summer it will open a third line that will start making the
newest version of the plane, the 737 MAX. Boeing plans to start
building the first MAX in August and finish in November. Boeing has
not publicly confirmed the production schedule for the 737 MAX. The
fuel-saving model will enter service in 2017.
When the third line is running, Boeing could in theory produce 63 of
the single-aisle planes a month, 21 from each line. Industry sources
have said Boeing is gauging the ability of suppliers to handle 58
planes a month. Boeing declined to comment on any plans beyond its
announced target of 52.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott and Tim Hepher; Editing by Lisa Shumaker &
Kim Coghill)
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