Boeing and its main aerostructures supplier, Spirit Aerosystems, announced a Memorandum of Agreement on Wednesday that aims to expand and improve the quality and predictability of production of parts for jets like the 737.
Under the agreement, the two companies will expand collaboration to make the process of assembling aircraft parts more reliable.
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“Boeing and Spirit will continue to work shoulder to shoulder to mitigate today’s operational challenges,” said Spirit AeroSystems President and CEO Patrick M. Shanahan.
Our collective teams will focus on further generating supply chain performance and resilience. This united effort to synchronize our production systems will enable greater market responsiveness and delivery assurance.”
Spirit has been involved in several problems in the production chain of parts for Boeing’s commercial aircraft. Recently, for example, the aft pressure bulkhead of some 737 MAX 8 models had fixing holes drilled incorrectly.
In April, aircraft in production and in storage had to undergo inspections on two fittings that join the aft fuselage to the vertical tail. They would not be attached correctly.
The difficulties affected the production rate of the 737 MAX, which is below expectations. Boeing is making efforts to increase the production rate to 57 aircraft per month by 2025 to meet demand.
