By Dan McCue

NORTH CHARLESTON -- A parts snafu and other critical problems throughout its supply chain prompted Boeing on Wednesday afternoon to announce a six-month delay in the initial deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner.

Deliveries of the Dreamliner, the first commercial aircraft made almost entirely of carbon-fiber based composite materials, are now slated to begin in late November or December 2008. Previously, they had been scheduled to begin next spring.

It remains to be seen what kind of hit the aerospace giant will take in contractual penalties stemming from the delay, which will affect about 15 of the 50 airlines who have committed to purchasing the plane.

“We are disappointed over the schedule changes that we are announcing today,” said Jim McNerney, Boeing’s chairman, president and CEO, during a two-hour conference call with reporters and financial analysts.

“Notwithstanding the challenges that we are experiencing in bringing forward this game-changing product, we remain confident in the design of the 787, and in the fundamental innovation and technologies that underpin it,” he said.

In a departure from its historic production process, Boeing opted to rely more heavily on major suppliers for the 787 project. In return for taking on a share of the development costs of the aircraft, several aerospace companies around the world were tapped to serve as sub-contractors in the creation of a plane that Boeing says will be lighter, faster and more fuel efficient than any commercial aircraft ever built before.

Workers at the co-located Vought Aircraft Industries and Global Aeronautica plants in North Charleston are building the two aft sections of the Dreamliner. A plant in Japan is making the 787’s wings; a facility in Italy, its horizontal tail section; and a factory in Wichita, Kan., the forward fuselage and crew section.

The parts are then flown to Boeing’s manufacturing facility in Everett, Wash., for final assembly.

Of the sections made in North Charleston, aft fuselage section 47 measures 19 feet in diameter and 23 feet in length. It is the last passenger section of the 787. Section 48, measuring 14 feet in diameter and 15 feet in length, includes the pressure bulkhead and is the first cargo hold section of the aircraft. 

About 80% of the material used in the sections manufactured here is purely composite, while the remaining 20% is mostly aluminum.

Boeing officials said despite the delay in delivery, the production schedules for suppliers like Vought and Global Aeronautica will not change. In fact, they continued to stand by the production process, maintaining that once problems within the supply chain are rectified, the company will be able to completely assembly a Dreamliner in as little as three days.

Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said problems in the production process and supply chain began to manifest themselves as work began in earnest on Dreamliner 1 and an earlier “static” version of the aircraft.

As a result of an unforeseen shortage of fasteners, clips and brackets, workers on the aircraft in Everett and other remote locations began assembling sections out of sequence, a move that kept the production process moving forward, but complicated matters later in the assembly process.

“Would we have handled this process a little differently in 20/20 hindsight? Yes,” Carson admitted. “But with the 787, you’re talking about the start of a whole new production process that’s not been done before.

“This situation is frustrating, but as one often does with things that are new, I put these problems in the category of there being some learning that has to be done,” he said, adding, “It’s been a voyage of discovery for the entire supply base.

“The bottom line is we could have done things better.”