Boeing's struggle with 777 assembly robots adds to Everett production snarl

Sept. 03--Production of Boeing's large 777 twinjet in Everett is significantly backed up, with incomplete jobs on each aircraft forcing catch-up work, some of which is being finished only after the jets roll out onto the airfield. Scrambling to fix the mess, they've kept 777 deliveries on track only by working long overtime hours, including weekends, with just two days off a month. Workers blame the new 777 robotic fuselage assembly system that management has been ramping up. This critical new technology, which Boeing must get right before the forthcoming 777X, automates the precise drilling and fastening together of fuselage panels for the big moneymaking jet. Boeing executives insist the robotics -- known as Fuselage Automated Upright Build, or FAUB -- are not the major hang-up.