12/9/2013 1:53:00 AM
HEADLINES
Precision Castparts CEO Talks 787 Fastener ‘Puzzle’
Precision Castparts CEO Mark Donegan discussed the value of supplying Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner with fasteners and other products.
“We’re on the 787,” CEO Mark Donegan stated in an early December conference call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “And if I look across the business, we are not at 10 yet, so if I kind of look at the casting side; we’re probably at a rate of roughly 8ish now. If we back off in that, in the aero structure side we’re probably at a rate of about 7.
“If you look at the fastener side, we are at a rate of 5. So we have to, if you look over the next 12 months, we’re going to have to make a step up to 10, at the varying points and then we’re going to accelerate our, beyond that 10 rate which is the current announcement, going out right now.
“So the biggest delta I see and where we have to close the gap is on the fastener side of the business. And that’s a big piece of puzzle for us, we have a big content of fasteners on the 787.”
In October Precision Castparts reported Total Airframe Products’ sales, including fasteners, increased 25% to $693 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2014.
“Sales of critical aerospace fasteners, which improved slightly year over year, continue to lag the current commercial aircraft build rates, particularly on the Boeing 787 program, a situation that is expected to resolve moving into early fiscal 2015,” the company stated.
Fasteners played a role in the nearly three-year delay of the composite 787, as supply disruptions and improper installation plagued Boeing’s test fleet.
Boeing is still trying to bring more fastener production and procurement in-house.
“BA is currently working with New Breed Logistics to better maintain control of its internal fastener supply – which includes the increased internal fabrication, better inventory management, and concerted effort to reduce the number of SKUs,” according to Cleveland Research Company’s Aerospace Supply Chain Review.
Click here to read FIN’s 2011 interview with the Boeing executive in charge of the 635 million fasteners the airplane maker used in 2012. ©2013 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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