To: IngotWeTrust who wrote (88979 ) 8/20/2002 5:29:11 PM From: E. Charters Read Replies (1) | Respond to The Boeing 767 is build from scratch ad hoc, with no printed plans. They threw plans out years ago, since not one of the foremen's cousins or Union worker's relatives could read them. Instead they retool jigs from previously built aircraft or use lasers aligned on floor joists that read dimensions off Mattel plastic models and guide assembly from that. Wiring and parts placement? Pre-built pre-drilled bulkheads are coded in Poland by government postal workers with bar code for illiterate North American workers. How do they decide how to build all this parts and the dimensions? Professors at engineering schools put the questions on weekly tests and the answers are statistically analysed for probable best answer and fed into a master computer which tests the fit by an autocad game played by street urchins in Hong Kong. As the plane is being built the chief engineer gets Andy the plant sweeper to look it over and make suggestions. His stuff usually works. If they are really stumped by a tough engineering question about thrust or aerodynamics, they put it out to grade 6 teachers in Kentucky who ask the class what they think about such problems. There is usually one bright kid who can think of something and this is relayed back to engineering with instructions to test it.
