Boeing and Mitsubishi team up to make efficiency and competitiveness soar

Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have announced an agreement to strengthen their collaboration to enhance the competitive edge of both businesses. This includes joint efforts to reduce costs in Mitsubishi’s production of wings for the 787 Dreamliner, plus studies into advanced aerostructure technologies for future generations of commercial aircraft.

The wings are manufactured at Mitsubishi’s Nagoya factory, and the agreement is expected to enable improved sales by pursuing increased efficiency in the production system and supply chain through lean production and automation processes. The company’s work for Boeing also includes fuselage sections for 757, 777, and 777X programs. Around 150 Japanese companies supply to Boeing across commercial and defense product lines, and Boeing utilises around $5bn worth of goods and services from the nation each year. This work means thousands of skilled jobs are assured across Japan and the US.

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Kevin McAllister, Boeing’s CEO and Commercial Airplans President, said: "This agreement advances the strong relationship between Boeing and MHI through joint efforts to reduce cost and improve efficiency, with a focus on MHI's production for the 787 Dreamliner.

"Collaboration with suppliers is at the heart of our Partnering for Success efforts, positioning our companies to win in today's competitive marketplace and look ahead to future opportunities."

Shunichi Miyanaga, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, added: "We are delighted to be enhancing the competitiveness of our commercial aircraft business with this agreement. We have built our partnership with Boeing over more than 40 years, collaborating on various aircraft programs including the 737, 747, 767, 777, 787 Dreamliner and state-of-the-art 777X and look forward to cooperating to explore future opportunities."