Inside Manufacturing: An autoclave for the 787 center wing box Development partners overcome cultural and geographical challenges to ensure cure of this massive composite structure for Boeing’s Dreamliner.
On May 26, 2005, The Boeing Co. awarded the production contract for its 787 Dreamliner’s all-composite center wing box, the critical structure that joins the wings to the fuselage, to Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI, Nagoya, Japan).
Long before the ink was dry on the contract, however, the long-standing Boeing development partner (also the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles) had begun construction of a 1 million-ft2 (more than 92,900m2) facility to manufacture the 17.4 ft long (fore to aft) by 19 ft wide by 4 ft thick (5.3m by 5.8m by 1.2m) structure.
Work on the largest piece of equipment in the new plant, the roughly 23-ft long by 23-ft diameter (7m by 7m) autoclave required to cure the center wing box, had begun almost a year earlier and halfway around the world at U.S.- based equipment manufacturer Taricco Corporation (Long Beach, Calif.).