Dive Brief:
- Boeing plans to spend $1 billion to expand and upgrade two 787 Dreamliner campuses in North Charleston, South Carolina, according to a Dec. 12 state press release.
- The expansion aims to help the aircraft maker reach a production target rate of 10 airplanes a month by 2026, according to the release.
- The investment will create 500 jobs over the next five years, and the expansion is expected to be complete in 2027, the company said in an email to Manufacturing Dive.
Dive Insight:
The project includes adding a Dreamlifter servicing and testing facility, approximately 8.2 acres of structural concrete and a new employee parking lot, according to Boeing’s environmental permit application on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s Charleston District website. The Dreamlifter is a 747 plane modified into a cargo freight aircraft that transports parts from suppliers for the 787 Dreamliner assembly, according to Boeing’s website.
The proposed project will be located close to the site’s loading and unloading area, which is designated for components to be unloaded from Dreamlifters for transport into the assembly building, according to the permit.
Boeing still has a ways to go to reach its production targets. The company has delivered 42 of the 787 plane models and nabbed 33 orders so far this year, according to the company’s website.
In Q3, the company was only able to deliver 14 787 planes, a 26.3% decrease compared to Q3 2023. However, it could be due to some snags in the company’s 787 supply chain for heat exchangers, The Wall Street Journal reported in May. Heat exchangers bring in air from the outside to cool down parts of the plane to make it more efficient, according to a Facebook post by consultant firm Aviation Review Materials.
As of Oct. 23, the company was working through production recovery plans on heat exchangers and delivery delays associated with seat certifications, CFO and EVP Brian West said in a Q3 earnings call. “The program is currently producing at four per month and still plans to return to five per month by year-end,” West said in the Q3 earnings call.
Boeing expanded its footprint in South Carolina in June by acquiring another facility in Orangeburg from GKN Aerospace. The Orangeburg facility focuses on metallic engine lip skins for Boeing’s 737 Max and 777X, according to GKN’s press release. However, the company’s latest expansion and upgrade plans will not include the Orangeburg facility, according to the state’s Commerce Department press release.
