Orders in Hand, Boeing Prepares to Build Dreamliner

After all the parts arrive from around the world, workers will assemble the planes in a hurry. Boeing chose its partners based on their ability to produce the parts efficiently and to a high standard, executives said. Boeing's goal is to churn out each plane in three days on an assembly line that more closely resembles a Japanese auto factory than the typical aircraft production line.

It takes the company 11 days to build a much smaller 737 using a similar approach, company officials said. Boeing executives say they adopted the auto-industry model to reduce expenses and better track production.

Analysts say they admire Boeing's confidence in its new, complex system. But they also wonder whether the company will be able to keep tabs on so many far-flung operations involving critical components.

"There are literally . . . a million things that can go wrong in the process that could throw them off track," said Scott Hamilton, managing director of the Leeham Co., a firm in the state of Washington that tracks Airbus and Boeing.

Development of the Dreamliner began in the late 1990s when Boeing executives realized they needed a plane that would excite passengers and airlines. They wanted a mid-size, wide-body jet that could accommodate what the company thinks will be explosive growth in long-haul travel on routes that bypass hub airports to link medium-size cities.

At the time, Boeing was just getting over major production and backlog problems that cost it billions of dollars. It seemed listless and unambitious in its proposed designs, analysts said. It also soon fell behind Airbus in annual orders.

Boeing first proposed the Sonic Cruiser, a plane that promised to be faster than most other jets. But the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks dealt a blow to the airline industry, and the bottom soon fell out of Boeing's order book.

As fuel prices soared, airlines were no longer interested in speed. They wanted efficiency. Boeing dropped the Sonic Cruiser and switched gears to build the 787.

Analysts say that Boeing made the right choice in building the Dreamliner. It has racked up far more orders than the A380, which has netted what analysts call a lackluster 149 orders and commitments for 17 more. The analysts also question whether there is enough growth in the super-jumbo market for Airbus ever to make money on the plane.

In aggressively going after the mid-size market, Boeing has also taken another big lead on Airbus, which has been forced to redesign one of its jets to compete with the Dreamliner and its bigger cousin, the 777. The A350xwb won't enter the marketplace until 2012 at the earliest, giving Boeing a four-year head start if it can keep to its delivery schedule.

"This embodies Boeing's renaissance, and their return to market dominance" said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst for the Teal Group who tracks the industry. "But if it doesn't work, it's back to square one."

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.