South Carolina Wins Boeing Narrow-Body Work

ShowNews
June 18, 2013

Boeing has elected to build key elements of the engine nacelle for the 737 MAX at its recently developed 787 assembly line in North Charleston, South Carolina, as part of a continuing effort to expand its commercial aircraft footprint beyond its home state of Washington.

The establishment of Propulsion South Carolina is part of a broader expansion of design engineering and information technology work for North Charleston, in support of the company’s pledge to invest $1 billion and create 2,000 jobs there.

“I think it’s an incredible choice that Boeing has made, says Charleston Regional Development Alliance president and CEO David Ginn. “They have essentially made Charleston and South Carolina an R&D, IT and wide-body center for commercial aircraft.”

The propulsion engineering work is the first significant extension for the Charleston plant beyond 787 fabrication and final assembly. It will cover the design and assembly of the inlet for the CFM Leap-1B that will power the 737 MAX. Boeing indicates that additional work is to follow, saying the unit will expand strategically on future airplane programs.

The company also is pledging additional design engineering work for Seattle’s Puget Sound region. While the centers will operate independently, they will work cooperatively with one another and with the existing Boeing Commercial Airplanes engineering design center in Moscow. In addition, Boeing is exploring development of another design center in Kiev, Ukraine, to support the Moscow center.

The move to bring the 737 MAX nacelle work in-house marks a significant strategic shift on the part of Boeing to incorporate more advanced, highly integrated propulsion systems into its future aircraft. The current inlet and fan cowl for the CFM56-7B that powers the 737 Next Generation series is made by YTC Aerospace Systems, formerly Goodrich. “We believe that innovative propulsion-system designs are needed to capture the benefits of new, more powerful and efficient engines,” says Vice President Nicole Piasecki, general manager of Boeing’s Propulsion Systems Division.

The decision to design and build the inlet in-house is thought to be linked to the ambitious performance targets set for the MAX and the resulting advanced design requirements.

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