48 BOEING FRONTIERS come together to start this new factory, the amount of details required to ensure everything is ready for day one.” Construction of the Composite Wing Center is the single-largest change to the Everett complex. The center encompasses 1.3 million square feet (120,800 square meters) and stands 100 feet (30 meters) tall at the roof line. Scheduled for completion in mid-2016, the $1 billion building will allow Boeing to fabricate its longest wings ever—more than 235 feet (72 meters)— with the help of three giant autoclaves, which bake composite materials. A vital part of the 777X production line, the wing center is important to the site’s future. But the construction project has made for a busy present as well. Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Shared Services Group (SSG) Site Services oversee the project, which has involved hundreds of construction workers and scores of suppliers and contractors, said Jeffrey Nunn, SSG Everett Site Services Project Implementation director. “From approval in 2014, the team cleared the construction site of three office buildings, acquired new off-site leased buildings, relocated about 3,000 displaced employees, completed site work ... and is completing specialized foundations and utilities to support new advanced manufacturing equipment and tooling, which will begin arriving soon for installation,” Nunn said. Together, Commercial Airplanes and SSG coordinate infrastructure changes— rerouting miles of utility lines, constructing a chiller building to supply cold water for manufacturing and air conditioning, finding new work areas for displaced employees, resolving disruptions to site parking and transportation, and more, said Jeanette Westrup, an SSG project manager for the wing center’s central tower. “This is a challenging project,” she said, “but it will be beneficial to the success of the 777X program. It’s incredible to watch all the construction and airplane production ongoing at the same time.” The new buildings are only part of what is happening at the site. Employees say the changes to the site go well beyond just an expansion. “I’m impressed that Boeing is setting itself up for the next phase of airplane manufacturing—in new technologies and aircraft materials,” said Florent “Flo” Briand, a 777X manufacturing engineer who first worked in Everett on the 747-400 program in the late 1980s. “There was a time when Boeing made airplanes out of wood and fabric ... We now go from aluminum and 787 composite assembly to new composite fabrication methods that will expand the breadth of what is done here.” On the east end of the complex, a new 325,000-square-foot (30,000-square- meter) building is home to the Fuselage Automated Upright Build, or FAUB, tools, designed to reduce safety risks and improve quality on 777 fuselage sections. This fall, the first fuselage sections went through the new drilling and fastening area, which will ramp up to replace the current process as production of the 777X nears in the coming years. Everett’s other airplane production lines are integrating new technology, tools and practices as well. For those who work at Everett and live in the area, the changes and additions show that Boeing’s original and largest widebody site is prepared to compete in a future of faster, more efficient production rates, noted SSG’s Westrup. “I believe the addition of the new manufacturing technology at the Everett site will bring Boeing into our next 100 years of business,” she said, “and help set us apart from our competitors.” n ERIC.C.FETTERS-WALP@BOEING.COM More than 2.7 million hours worked to date with no lost workdays due to injury Photos: (From top) A construction worker places the last major steel structure for the Composite Wing Center in Everett, Wash., in September; construction is slated to be complete mid-2016. GAIL HANUSA | BOEING
Frontiers December 2015 - January 2016 Issue
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