Global Fastener News

Boeing Blames 9/11 & Iraq War for Fastener Backlog

Jason Sandefur

Blaming the aerospace downturn after the 9/11 attacks, as well as MRO demand from the war in Iraq, for the tight aerospace fastener market, The Boeing Co. offered more details about efforts to spur suppliers for more fasteners needed to build its 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing’s production schedule had planned to begin tests flights by August.
“Instead, that first flight won’t happen until at least mid-November and could be further delayed until mid-December – a development that seriously threatens Boeing’s schedule to deliver the first 787 on time in May to All Nippon Airways of Japan,” writes James Wallace of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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.
Byrne said the downturn of 2001-2002 saw Boeing and Airbus cutting production rates and delaying repair and overhaul of planes already in service. This prompted suppliers, including Alcoa Fastening Systems, to reportedly slash about 40% of their workforce.
“The biggest challenge … has been hiring skilled workers and getting the fastener factories restaffed fast enough for round-the-clock production to meet demand,” writes Wallace.
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.
Byrne also told the Post-Intelligencer that new airplane programs are always challenging for the fastener industry. The 787 requires a number of new kinds of fasteners, with testing and qualification robbing pressing time from production.
Some reports suggest 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.
All these developments prompted Byrne to predict an ongoing fastener shortage.
“It’s a fundamental industry problem,” Byrne said of the aerospace fastener shortage. “It is not purely supply and demand. It’s probably going to be with us for a couple of years.” �2007 FastenerNews.com