Process and system variation impacts on 777 wings manufacturing

Abstract

The Boeing 777 has seen an increased the rate of production from one plane every 7 days to one plane every 2.5 days. Wing production has relied on a sizeable work force and the use of overtime to meet this demand. The primary objective is to improve build efficiency by reducing variability in the production system. The impact of eleven variables was determined using a stepwise regression to predict for total labor hours across 250 airplanes. Three variables - travelers, defects, and quality assurance response time - accounted for almost 50% of the variability in labor hours. Other variations included engineering changes and rate breaks. Moving forward, the Wing Majors shop will redirect resources to control travelers, improve quality, and minimize quality assurance delays.