European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Jumbo problems for High flying Boeing by Robert e. Dallos los Angeles times y of Don t have to be financially troubled Mohave problems. Take Boeing co. Ii is soiling More airliners than Ever to i making More Money than Ever. And with an order backlog of More than 1,000 planes. Us business Outlook is Superb far into the next decade. Bui Boeing. Iho non communist world s larges maker of commercial airliners with More than 60 percent of the Market May be enjoying mom Success  can  Ollic Pio Bloms we have today is a perception that we re doing very Well Frank a. Sir Only Boeing s chairman and president said. And that makes it Lough to convince both our employees and our suppliers Hal we need to got costs Down. It s a lol easier to do when you re in a crisis than when you re nol in a  nowhere is Iho evidence e Boeing s Boom More visible than at its huge facility in Revlon near Seal lie on a recent Day there wore 21 737 airliners in one of the hangars and nine 757s next door in various stages of completion from he Lime the first Metal is Cut until a new 737 is read to be Down in takes Lour to sit weeks. A 737 is completed every Day and a Hall. Alter Iho Jet engines Are installed the planes Are moved to a paint hangar where they Are adorned with the names and insignias of their new owners. Then Iho aircraft Are pulled to a Tarmac outside where the engines Are tested. Finally the new planes Are blown. To near Boeing Field a company owned facility where i Teyara night tested before being turned. Over to their new  company builds Lour Airliner types the two engine narrow body 737, which was introduced in 1966 the jumbo four engine 747, introduced in 1970 the two engine wide body 767, introduced in 1382 and ". The 757, which entered service in 1983 and which has. Two engines and a narrow body but is bigger than the 737/. A Boeing received orders for 366 airliners Worth $19.9 billion during 1987. So far this year the figures Are 595 planes and $26 billion. By dec. 31, analysts predict the total value of Boeing orders this year May exceed $30 billion. --.-. Industry observers said the company s backlog of. Orders stood at $44.3 billion at the end of september up irom 139.9 billion at the end of june. Lawrence ,. Harris who allows Boeing for the los Angeles investment firm of Bateman Eichler Mill Richards inc., forecast Hal before the end of the year Boeing would. Have a backlog of $51 billion. But there is a reverse Side to All this. While the production tines Are humming Boeing s executives complain that the glut of orders has caused the company to be squeezed from All  having trouble getting its own costs in line. First Boeing 747-400, world s largest  was rolled out of Everett wash., Plant . The company s airline customers have been demanding lower prices Lor their aircraft and insisting on Ever More advantageous financing terms. At the same Lime. Boeing s suppliers watch the surge in the company s business and seek More Money for their wares. Since a 747 jumbo Jet uses parts made by More than 2,000 companies pressure has been increasing on Boeing s profits Shrontz said. Another problem involves Boeing s lacklustre military aircraft business which accounts for 25,5 percent of the company s Revenue but Only 10.9 percent of its profit. Also Boeing s Canada based de Havilland. Commuter air Rall division has had continuing losses. But most of the woes Are associated with the company s Success. Some managers and workers contend or example that the flood of orders has forced Boeing to hire inexperienced workers. The result they say is a drop in Quality and a slowing of the Assembly Jno. As a result some of Boeing s deliveries Are Fate. The company is behind schedule on about 20 747-400s. Seid Dean d. Thornton president of Boeing commercial air plane co., the unit that builds the airliners. The suppliers Are also having trouble keeping up the Pace which further slows production and disrupts the Assembly Tine. Our production capability is constrained Thornton said adding that if a Wing Tail engine or other part is missing a plane might not move ahead on the Assembly line and Allol those behind would be slowed or halted there is yet another obstacle As on automobiles a lot of options Are available and these also slow production Thornton said. The customer selects a certain configuration he said. He has t changed the wings but he sure Ash Eck moves the lavatories and the galleys around and Hal affects the plumbing and the wiring end the floor beams -. -. The company is worried about manufacturing. Inefficiencies caused by the slowdowns. There have been some Well publicized complaints irom some customers notably Japan air lines and British always about Quality. The problems Thornton said have included such things As the smoothness of the planes fuselage skin which resulted from tryels not being precisely flush with the body. Other critics however have pointed to More serious problems. Including wings that were said to be improperly. Attached to the fuselage. /. But Thornton says that while there have been some Quality problems safety standards have not been compromised. _ Boeing Hopfl that its various problems can be sorted out before ii starts a Speed up in production expected to begin soon. \. Since in introduced the 737 two decades ago Boeing has received orders for 2,243 at the planes and has delivered 1,624. Production is 14 planes a month which will be increased to 17 by mid-1990. It has delivered 708 of the 880 747s ordered so far and plans to boost production from four to live a month by mid-1989. There have been 371 orders Tor the 757,and 197 of them have been delivered. To catch up the company. Plans to increase production from the current four to five a month in february and eventually to seven. On order Are 337 767s. Of which 242 have been delivered and Boeing plans to increase production from 3.5 a Mon Tolive. And the orders continue to pour in. For Many reasons. First airlines have been making huge profits and Are belter Able to afford new planes than in the past. Their expenditures on air Rall Are a relatively Small part a their Overall outlays representing Only about 9 percent of total operating costs. In addition Boeing unlike its principal competitors Mcdonnell Douglas corp. End Airbus industries the Europe Eri consortium  full line of aircraft in each of the three main types Short medium and Long Range. Airport and air traffic congestion Are also helping to push sales especially of larger planes. To relieve. Problems of overcrowding the airlines want to Fly More people in fewer air Rall. This has caused a surge in sales of the 757, which seats 186 passengers to replace the 140