Tuesday, June 2, 2015

The future is here

How’s this for predicting the future? Three years ago, we said that spar load for the first 737 MAX would take place on May 29, 2015. That’s exactly what ended up happening as employees in Renton began assembling airplane number one.

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Employees load the initial parts of the first 737 MAX spars - internal support structures in wings- into automated spar assembly machines.

It’s an important milestone for our employees and our customers as we stay on track to deliver the first MAX in the third quarter of 2017 to launch customer Southwest Airlines. The Renton team also started work on the upper and lower wing panels in the new panel assembly line (PAL) that uses automation to drill holes and install fasteners in the upper and lower wing panels.

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Machine operator Les Nystrom is loading 737 MAX wing skin panels and stringers into the new panel assembly line (PAL).

The unfinished skins, stringers and spars were machined by Boeing Fabrication Skin and Spar in Auburn and Fredrickson, Wash. When finished, the panels and spars will be transformed into completed wings.

Check out this time lapse video that captures the first MAX starting to take shape. (Download takes a couple of minutes).

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