MOVING RIGHT ALONG ... BOEING TESTS NEW ASSEMBLY LINE.

Byline: Ian Hanigan Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - The Boeing Co.'s 717-200 is moving.

Jet sales aren't necessarily flying. But this month, Boeing started testing its new moving aircraft assembly line at the company's 600,000- square-foot production plant in Long Beach. Modeled after Toyota's automobile production system, the operation marks an aeronautical inspiration of sorts: It's the first time a modern jet has been built on a moving assembly line.

``It's all about creating flow,'' said Mike Graziano, director of lean enterprise for Boeing's Long Beach division. ``You don't want anything sitting, because if it's sitting, it's not providing value.''

The move from standard jet production to an operational assembly line isn't quite finished. On Nov. 1, with the push of a button, three Boeing 717s were pulled 140 feet into position along two pairs of rails, like train tracks, in a process that took about 20 minutes. Last Thursday, four planes were moved. And five planes will be moved this week. By then, the lean implementation will be in full swing in what is called ``pulse mode,'' meaning the planes move in quick spurts every few days.

The goal is to have a continuously moving line where planes are pulled forward at a snail's pace - one-half inch per minute - during an entire shift.

Workers will stand on platforms that move at the same pace as the planes.

``It'll be like watching grass grow or paint dry,'' Boeing spokesman Warren Lamb said, ``like when I go down the 405 Freeway in the morning.''

Though officials have targeted August 2001 for the change to a continuously moving line, implementation depends on several factors, including how fast workers adapt to the new system.

Boeing's assembly line works like this: Two robust 2,200-foot-long chains buried beneath the factory floor are driven forward by a motor on the south end of the plant. The chains pull cradles that ride above the floor along two sets of rails, and the planes sit atop the cradles.

While the system is in pulse mode, cables and wires for electrical equipment snake across the polished factory floor when the planes are sedentary. But Boeing has plans to install all necessary wiring inside the cradles well before the planes are in constant motion.

``Hopefully a month from now, when we work out all the details, you won't see any cords or hoses,'' Graziano said. ``They'll be worked into the cradle structure.''

The conveyor system is a far cry from the old way of doing things. Before lean implementation, jets were parked at an angle in three rows inside the giant factory.

``The work that was done was happening at three different places within the building,'' Graziano said.

It took 20 to 25 workers about three hours to move three planes into their next positions, he said.

Back then, Boeing was turning out a 717 about every 65 days. With the assembly line in place, officials said they can finish a new plane every 48 days. And the expectation is that by April 2001, a 717 will be completed every 32 days at the Long Beach plant.

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Photo:

(color) When completed, Boeing's new Long Beach assembly line will move planes and workers at a rate of one-half inch per minute.

Jeff Gritchen/Staff Photographer