Boeing Appoints VP To Oversee 787 Parts Production
Vought Aircraft Industries reports a
smaller third-quarter loss than a year ago, but Boeing
has assigned a senior executive to expressly work with the company
to get its 787 components manufacturing up to speed, and on
time.
Boeing has appointed Scott Strode, a vice president formerly in
charge of 787 production, to oversee all development activities
with Vought "to strengthen management of the supply chain,"
according to an internal memo obtained by The Seattle Times.
Vought reported its Q3 financial results November 12. The
company reported a loss of $2.1 million in the quarter, a big
improvement over the $13.4 million it lost in the same period a
year ago. Sales for the quarter were $422.3 million, 19 percent
higher, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
For the first nine months of 2007 Vought reported a profit of
$43.2 million on sales of $1.23 billion, compared to a loss of 30.4
million on sales of $1.133 billion in 2006.
Vought, a partially publicly-funded company, is owned by the
Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group.
Strode’s oversight will give "special attention to 787
recovery and production ramp-up," the internal announcement said,
though his oversight also extends to Vought's development work on
the new jumbo-jet derivative, the 747-8, according to the Boeing
memo.
The company
manufactures the two rear fuselage sections of the 787 and, in a
second adjacent plant, works with Italian aerospace company Alenia
to integrate the two companies' 787 components.
Elmer Doty, Chief Executive of Vought said the company is seeing
marked improvements in its quality, inventory costs and
work-related injuries.
"We continue to focus on operational excellence," Doty said in a
prepared statement, "and through a concentrated effort we are now
seeing signs of improvement that appear sustainable across all of
our major programs with only the H-60 program still needing
significant attention."
Dallas, TX-based Vought manufactures aircraft components in
plants in Dallas and Grand Prairie; Hawthorne, CA; Nashville, TN;
Stuart, FL; Milledgeville, GA; and North Charleston, SC, where it
builds fuselage sections for the new 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing spokesperson Yvonne Leach said other Boeing executives
are fulfilling similar oversight roles with other 787 suppliers,
including the Japanese and Italian partners. But those executives
are not as high level as Strode.