Boeing’s suppliers are feeling the impact after a fleet of 787 aircraft was grounded earlier in January following a number of technical problems with the aircraft, problems which caused a battery to become charred on an Air Nippon flight and forced an ANA 787 into an emergency landing.
An investigation by Japanese and US regulators is currently being carried out but as yet there have been no problems found with the manufacturing processes of GS Yuasa, the supplier of the lithium-ion batteries which are used on the 787.
Suppliers face the prospect not only of prolonged uncertainty but, depending on the length and outcome of ongoing investigations, lost revenue on expected orders from Boeing.
The Financial Times reported that Boeing is continuing to push ahead with the production of 787’s, despite the fleet currently being grounded and that suppliers have not been informed of any changes to manufacturing, which is expected to increase over the next year to meet a backlog of orders.
However, Boeing’s Japanese suppliers have already had to weather a long delay before the first Dreamliner was finally delivered in 2011, more than three years behind schedule. That has already extended the timeframe for suppliers to recoup their costs.
Analysts are however confident that these suppliers would be able to cope with any changes due to that fact that the technology they developed is cutting edge and the fact that they supply to any other industries.
The 787 “presented a chance for the Japanese suppliers to get into new, cutting edge technology. No one else on the planet is building composite fuselages and wings this size on this scale”, said Lance Gatling, an aerospace consultant in Tokyo to the Financial Times.
