NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina—Boeing’s Charleston-area propulsion center, already growing as an aftermarket provider, is preparing to take on a larger role on 787 production by delivering ready-to-install engine “kits” to the final assembly line (FAL).
Propulsion South Carolina (PSC) engineers already outfit 787 engines with inlets and other parts in the company’s 88-30 FAL building in North Charleston, which sits about 11 miles from PSC. By January, the engine “kitting” will be done within PSC and the ready-to-hang engines will be delivered to the FAL.
“We’ll bolt on thrust links, inlets [and other parts],” PSC manufacturing leader Al Dozier said during a media visit to the facility. “Then we will ship that over to [final assembly] and install the engine on the aircraft like a kitted package.”
The change will bring benefits to both facilities, he said.
“We just want to bring this [in-house] and approve our processes, and we will free up space in the 88-30 building,” Dozier added.
Established in 2013 and in its current facility since 2015, PSC is responsible for the design and assembly of the 737 MAX engine inlet, design of the 737 MAX nacelle fan cowl, and design and engineering integration for the 777-9 nacelle.
In 2019, it received FAA Part 145 repair station certification, opening up another opportunity to serve both internal and external customers.
Increasing PSC’s aftermarket business “is a very, very large priority,” Ryan Bucher, the facility’s site leader, told Aviation Week.
PSC has done some 777 nacelle repair work, but Bucher estimates that 99% of current work is on 737 MAX parts it manufactures. Volume is low, at about 1-2 units per month, but PSC plans to ramp up on both the 737 program and on 777-9 parts it manufactures once that aircraft enters service in two or so years. Its customers are both operators and Boeing Global Services.
Adding aftermarket work “does a variety of different things” for PSC, Bucher said. “It not only provides us new business, it also provides that feedback loop to the design [team]. You physically understand the challenges that our customers are facing in the fleet. Some are things you can’t control, like a bird strike ... but what you can do is figure out how to use design in a way that makes parts more repairable.”
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