Boeing this week again boosted 737 airliner production at its Renton plant. The new rate, 35 a month, is a record for the 737 assembly line.
The latest rate increase is the second in recent history for Boeing on the 737 line. The line now produces 31.5 planes a month. The 737 assembly line has produced as few as 14 planes a month after the 2001 terrorist attacks dampened demand for new aircraft.
The production increase to 35 a month isn’t the end of Boeing’s production ramp-ups. The company plans to increase production to 38 a month in the second quarter of 2013 and to 42 a month in the first half of 2014. The company is even talking informally about upping 737 production to 60 a month if it can find production facilities.
The company is taking its time in increasing the pace to ensure that the hundreds of suppliers who make parts for the 737 are up to speed.
The 737 production speed-up is part of a companywide 40 percent production increase on all of Boeing’s commercial aircraft assembly lines. That acceleration is designed to satisfy production demand for new aircraft.
In some cases, Boeing has an order book backlog of more than five years of production at current assembly rates. Boeing, for instance, has 2,215 orders on the books for the 737, nearly six year’s production at the 31.5 planes-a-month.
The company’s 787 Dreamliner production is expected to hit 10 aircraft a month from the present two-a-month pace by 2014. The 777 production pace, recently increased to seven a month, is to move to 8.3 planes a month by the first quarter of 2013. The new 747-8 production rate is expected to jump to two monthly from 1.5 by the middle of next year.
Boeing has also reconfigured its 767 production line at Everett to produce more aircraft as the company begins building a new aerial tanker for the Air Force based on the 767.
All of that production activity is expected to translate to more jobs in the Puget Sound area where most of Boeing’s commercial aircraft are built. About 1,200 more workers, for instance, will be hired for the 737 production in Renton.
John Gillie, staff writer
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