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Technology Stocks : Boeing keeps setting new highs! When will it split? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: campe who wrote (2150)	3/7/1999 10:36:00 PM
From: Bruce Cullen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3764

"The signs inside the factory are encouraging. With more than 238 airplanes built, factory workers have outperformed Boeing's estimates in final assembly, say employees with knowledge of the program. Already, the actual hours that it takes assembly mechanics to build 200 planes is nearly 80 percent less than executives't forecast, the employees say. Boeing's Bradley declined to discuss the issue for competitive reasons, but the company released some other key measurements that show the new 737s have made significant progress over the past year: -- Releases of engineering drawings have improved from a 75 percent on-time release rate to a nearly 95 percent rate. Boeing traditionally maintains a 95 percent release rate, which is critical for keeping the production schedule on time. -- Jobs-behind-schedule, which tracks the amount of out-of-sequence work inside the factory, has declined from 10,000 a day to less than 500 a day. -- The time it takes to put together a new 737 in final assembly has declined from 60 days to less than 40. -- Factory overtime for the new 737s has declined from 35 percent over standard payroll last year to less than 10 percent over payroll today. With Boeing's renewed emphasis on the bottom line, airplane executives say they are paying even closer attention to reducing the cost of building each new 737 airplane. "We are continually working to make our production more efficient and provide the return to shareholders that they expect from us," Hayhurst said. In the end, investors will decide whether that's good enough. Stanley Holmes' phone message number is 206-464-2732. His e-mail address is: sholmes@seattletimes.com Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company "