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Boeing B787

The Boeing 787 is an innovative passenger airplane with improved economic efficiency due to the adoption of lightweight composite materials throughout a large portion of its structure. In addition, the aircraft body is being constructed using a completely new technique, integral molding, on a cylindrical fuselage with a diameter of 6 meters, based on the development of a one-piece barrel. The 787 is a 200- to 300-seat midsize commercial airplane aiming for a high level of efficiency in operation, so a number of innovative designs - as well as cutting-edge manufacturing technology - are being applied in the airplane. The fuselage features a composite one-piece structure that is the world's first in a commercial aircraft, and requires a significantly different manufacturing process from that of existing airplanes.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) are program partners on the 787 Dreamliner and supply about 35 percent of airframe. Kawasaki provides part of the forward fuselage, the main landing gear wheel well and the main wing fixed trailing edge for the airliner. The company is constructing new manufacturing facilities for the 787s at its Nagoya Works I, where the component parts for the Boeing 777 are currently being manufactured. The completion of the new facility is scheduled for early spring 2006. Shipment from the Works for the 787 airplanes will start in late 2006, using Boeing's specially modified 747 Large Cargo Freighters.

Kawasaki built an efficient production line that will enable it to realize an integrated manufacturing process, from composite parts fabrication to assembly of the forward fuselage. It is also introducing state-of-the-art equipment in the new facility, such as the world's largest class autoclave to cure the laid-up composite with high temperatures and pressures, an automatic fiber placement machine to co-cure the composite fuselage, and a panel-fastening machine to automatically rivet frames to the fuselage.

Kawasaki was scheduled to deliver the initial forward fuselage from its new facility in early 2007. The Company is committed to providing high-quality products from the new facility to the Boeing program, and to actively contributing to the development of the commercial aircraft business.

On October 19, 2004 Japan Aircraft Development Corporation (JADC), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.(KHI), and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd (FHI) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) outlining key terms and conditions for their participation in the development and production of the 7E7 Dreamliner with The Boeing Company. In this project, MHI will be responsible for the main wing box. KHI will provide part of the forward fuselage section, the main landing gear wheel well and the main wing fixed trailing edge. FHI is focused on the center wing box and integration of the center wing box with the main landing gear wheel well. The total work share of Japanese firms will account for approximately 35% of the 7E7 structure.

In May 2005, Boeing and Japan Aircraft Development Corporation, representing its three Japanese 787 structural partners - Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fuji Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries - signed formal contracts detailing their work agreements for the all-new 787 Dreamliner.

On July 10, 2006 Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. held an opening ceremony to mark the completion of a new facility adjacent to its existing Nagoya Works 1 for production of key 787 Dreamliner components, as part of a co-development program with The Boeing Company of the United States. Construction of the new facility, to the east of the existing facility, had been under way since November 2004. The new plant has about 20,000 m2 total floor space. It is 160 m long, 95 m wide and 21 m high. Kawasaki is taking part in the development and production of the forward fuselage, the main landing gear wheel well, and the wing fixed trailing edge for the Dreamliner. Those components will be manufactured and assembled in the new facility using state-of-the-art equipment.