Published May 2002

Aerospace Briefs

Electroimpact wins Q100 award
Electroimpact, a Mukilteo company that is building tooling for the wings for Airbus’ new A380 superjumbo, also was named one of Boeing’s top suppliers for 2001. It was one of four Snohomish County aerospace companies to receive Q100 awards.

Boeing reorganizes shifts
The Boeing Co. is reorganizing shift start times on its 777 assembly line in Everett, a move that will do away with staggered start times for workers and largely eliminate the third shift.

Less than 1,000 workers will be affected by the changes, which was implemented April 22, a spokeswoman said.

“It’s about our survival,” 777 manufacturing director Mark Johnstone told employees in a memo announcing the changes. The move will increase daily productivity while cutting the need for costly weekend overtime, he said.

The airplane interiors shop in Everett adopted a similar shift schedule earlier this year, Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Heathers said.

Under the old work schedule, the majority of 777 workers started their days on staggered schedules between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. They clocked out for the day between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., just as workers on the smaller second shift came into the factory. The third shift, the smallest of the three, ran from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

Under the new schedule, all first-shift 777 assembly workers, and those who directly support them, will work from 5:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Second shift will be from 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; and third shift will continue to be from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., but only a handful of workers will be kept on that schedule.

Boeing challenges $350,000 in fines
The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed fining Boeing nearly $350,000 for allegedly failing to maintain quality controls, mostly in the mid-1990s.

In a statement issued in late March, the FAA accused the company’s Commercial Airplanes division of violating FAA regulations on four occasions by failing to maintain its quality control system.

Boeing spokesman Tom Ryan said the company would oppose the fines, and said the problems did not result in any flight safety risks.

The FAA said Boeing worked to identify and correct the problems when they were discovered.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the penalties “are designed to let the industry know that the FAA is an oversight function and it takes the job seriously.”

The fines relate to incidents ranging from installing the wrong wiring on four jets to installing defective washers on 72 others.

Related: Boeing reports loss; sales lage for wide-body jets

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