Boeing CEO Blames Fastener Industry Consolidation for 787 Delays

Jason Sandefur

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney blamed Alcoa Fastening Systems and other fastener suppliers for ongoing shortages that have delayed the test flight of its 787 Dreamliner.
“You know the root cause here the fastener industry got consolidated, post 9/11,” McNerney reportedly told a group of investors. “The consolidators misjudged the demand swingback a lot of us misjudged the demand swingback post 9/11.”
Those comments “appeared to be a direct reference to Alcoa, the chief supplier of bolts for the 787,” wrote Bill Rigby of Reuters. Boeing has not publicly identified its other fastener suppliers.
Boeing”s production schedule had planned to begin tests flights by August, but setbacks have delayed test flights until possibly mid-December.
To meet that deadline, Boeing has sent hundreds of engineers to help third-tier suppliers as far away as Israel boost production for critical fuselage components.
“The fastener industry will have to work hard just to keep pace with demand, and will have to do even more than that to get healthy,” stated Jon Byrne, supply chain strategy director for Boeing.
McNerney”s public comments conflict with earlier reports that AFS did not receive the specifications for the nine different fasteners needed for the 787 until late in the design process.
As late as June, published reports claimed that requirements for 787 fasteners came near the end of the program”s detailed engineering design process, giving fastener makers a late start in tooling up to produce the specialty fasteners.
Some reports suggested 787 fastener specs were as much as 8 months late, forcing AFS and other suppliers to work non-stop to complete design work and manufacture the 9 different fastener types for the Dreamliner.
Boeing hoped its radical new composite fuselage design, which equates to about an 80% reduction in fasteners for the barrel of the 787, would minimize delays. But that didn”t pan out.
Though Boeing acknowledged as early as March that fasteners were a “high risk” item, McNerney”s comments were the strongest indication of the jet maker”s frustration at the fastener shortage.
Alcoa said it was addressing the shortage.
“We are working with them (Boeing) to try to get them as many fasteners as we possibly can for this program,” stated Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery. “Every day we are getting them more and more we are making great progress.”
Not everyone agrees that fastener industry consolidation is to blame for the current shortage.
“The consolidation on the aerospace fastener industry has not had a dampening effect on the ability to ramp up,” an aerospace fastener manufacturer told FastenerNews.com. “At worse it has been neutral, at best the new owners may have encouraged the addition of new or more capital equipment to help meet the demand.”
Regardless, strong demand for business and regional demand, as well as the year-long lead time for some raw materials, including titanium, has created a “tidal wave” for Boeing. \ �2007 FastenerNews.com