Jumbo Jet Brings Riveting Experience to Northrop

When Boeing rolled out the newest version of its 747 jumbo jet earlier this week at its factory in Everett, Wash., the event signaled a major increase in aircraft production not only in the Seattle area but in Hawthorne as well.

Northrop has built every fuselage for the 747 under a Boeing subcontract since the program started in 1966. In December, the company shipped to Boeing its 700th fuselage for the 747.

As a result of the sharp upturn in 747 orders, Northrop announced Thursday that it plans to add 1,000 new jobs on the program at its Hawthorne factory--500 new hires and 500 employees being transferred from other Northrop programs. The jobs are expected to be filled by next year, Northrop said.

Amid the din of nut drivers and rivet guns at its Hawthorne aircraft factory, some 1,800 Northrop employees are currently working two shifts per day to produce the fuselages. The company produced two fuselages per month during 1987, but by 1989, it will be shipping five fuselages each month to Boeing’s plant.

Northrop ships the disassembled fuselages in a kit of 27 panels that are put together in Everett, north of Seattle. The transport of one fuselage kit requires nine large boxcars, part of a fleet of more than three dozen boxcars that Boeing had specially built for the program.

“One of the big challenges in this program was the size of this airplane,” said Jack Gibilisco, vice president for manufacturing at Northrop’s aircraft division. “It was quite an engineering job. We have to think of our production line as an extension of the Boeing assembly line. We have never missed a delivery.”

Northrop does not disclose the value of its Boeing subcontracts, but based on financial data released in its annual report the company realizes about $7.5 million in sales on each fuselage. In 1986, the 747 program accounted for $279 million in revenue for Northrop.

Gibilisco said most of the new jobs on the program will be for aircraft structure assembly mechanics, which in some cases is a fancy name for a riveter. Nonetheless, these are highly skilled jobs, and rapidly increasing aircraft production at a number of companies in Los Angeles has created a shortage of experienced workers.

“We don’t see the job market as bringing a lot of experienced people to our door,” Gibilisco said. “One of the competitions we have is with the Douglas people and the advent of their C-17 program.” In nearby Long Beach, McDonnell Douglas is hiring thousands of new workers for its C-17 cargo aircraft being built for the Air Force.

To work as a structure assembly mechanic in many cases requires certified training in such areas as hole drilling and sealing.

“Where it is necessary, we have a formal training program in a classroom before we put people on the line. The classroom training ranges from four to eight weeks and then we put them on four weeks of on-the-job training before we turn them loose.”

The 747 fuselage program is not huge by aerospace industry standards, but it is important for Northrop because of its stability. Northrop will easily pass a quarter century on the 747 program, based on current backlogs alone.

The long relationship between Boeing and Northrop is a notable contrast to current military practice in which established contractors are often thrown off big programs in the name of competition.

Jack Gamble, a Boeing spokesman, said the 747 fuselage contracts have been put up for competitive bidding, but Northrop has retained the business for 22 years.

“Northrop’s position is a very important one and they have done outstanding work for us,” he said. “That’s a hell of big piece of the airplane, and it is a big airplane.”

The introduction of the new aircraft, known formally as the 747-400, has met with rapid commercial success. It carries as many as 450 passengers, up from a maximum of 400 on existing 747s. Its range is 8,000 miles, thanks to modifications of its wings.

Boeing has orders for 118 of the aircraft at about $120 million each for an estimated backlog of $14.2 billion. Northrop’s portion of that would amount to roughly $885 million, based on historical sales.