Boeing use Lean Manufacturing Techniques to assembling this new airplane. Most of its body made from light composite materials, so able to make the skeleton intact.

Total, only needed six huge skeletons which unified; front part, middle part, bottom part, wings, horizontal stabilizer, and standing tail. With this new technique, Boeing can produce one 787 Dreamliner each three days. What a fast production!

Why the number is 787? Seven is number of perfect; eight is from E letter when dreamliner not yet measure its exact number. E letter is “Efficiency”, some people called “environmentally friendly”. But at the end, Boeing decided E letter as eight.

Believe or not, 787 is lucky number. At Paris Show 2007, 45 airlines ordered 584 Dreamliner 787 in total. A record which never had made before in airplane sales history.

Boeing 787 is first airplane that use 50% composite material, 2% aluminium, 15% titanium, 10% steel, and 5% others, make 787 Dreamliner so light in weight. Accordance of its weight, 80% 787 material is composite, so this plane able to take off and landing on short base, but have long distance of flying.

Beside more light and save fuel until 20%, Dreamliner supplier came from several countries and manufacturer. This plane wings made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at Nagoya, standing tail made by Alenia Aeronautica (Italy), the body made by Vought at South Carolina (US), Alenia (Italy), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan) and Wichita, Kansas (US) by Spirit AeroSystems. Passenger doors by Latecoere (France), cargo door, out door, and emergency plane door made by Saab (Swedish). Carbon fiber production by Toray Industries.

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Messier-Dowty and Thales from France supplied landing wheels, integrated stand-by flight display, electric power conversion system and in-flight entertainment. Honeywell and Rockwell-Collins from US made 787 flight control, guidance and avionics systems. Hamilton Sundstrand made electricity power instruments.

Boeing has two options of engines for its customer, General Electric Genx, and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 to powered 787. Boeing offer interchangeable in short time, only in 24 hours.

Dreamliner 787 use conventional steering wheel, not side-stick like fly-by-wire Airbus cockpit.