The Boeing 787 Dreamliner production line is to come to a halt in the next days as the company come to terms with scaling back operations in response to the covid-19 global pandemic.
The 787 Dreamliner is manufactured at the Boeing South Carolina site.
Until further notice and starting at the end of second shift on Wednesday, April 8 production will come to a halt. The change impacts the Airport Campus, Emergent Operations, Interiors Responsibility Center South Carolina and Propulsion South Carolina.
Brad Zaback, vice president and general manager of the 787 Program and BSC site leader:
“It is our commitment to focus on the health and safety of our teammates while assessing the spread of the virus across the state, its impact on the reliability of our global supply chain and that ripple effect on the 787 program.”
“We are working in alignment with state and local government officials and public health officials to take actions that best protect our people.”
Boeing South Carolina teammates who can work remotely will continue to do so.
During this time of suspension on the 787 program, Boeing will conduct enhanced cleaning activities at the site and monitor the global supply chain as the situation evolves.
Boeing has stated that when the suspension is lifted, the 787 program will take an orderly approach to restarting production with a focus on safety, quality, integrity and meeting customer commitments.
In addition to this the company will need to manage its client expectations as well as the impact of the global supply chain on the manufacture of its aircraft.
It is understood that there is no immediate impact to the delivery of BBJ variants – although they too are subject to the 787 production line halt for green aircraft.