The Seattle Times reports on a new “aircraft crawler” developed by Boeing and Nova-Tech Engineering of Lynnwood, Washington, to turn the 777 production line in Everett, Washington, into a form of “moving assembly line”. The old method used cranes to lift the fuselage sections into a fixed structure where all the parts and pieces were installed, and then the crane would move the section to the next phase, a dramatic and hazardous routine. The new crawler will replace the crane and the fixed structure, becoming an assembly line.
They are highly maneuverable, capable of rotating aircraft sections full circle and can expand or contract to fit the different fuselage lengths of various 777 models…
…The fuselage sections will sit in two cradles atop the crawlers, and mechanics standing on attached work platforms will install the systems as they move forward at a rate of 1.8 inches per minute, following a white line on the factory floor…
…Starting sometime in 2007, the crawlers — this time moving at a rate of 10 feet per minute — will also transfer completed fuselage sections from systems installation over to the tooling where the aircraft sections are finally joined together.
This technique will allow Boeing to move heavier aircraft section pieces as the crane has weight limitations. These new crawlers are expected to drop the “work-flow days” from the current 20 days, eventually down to 12.
