Boeing temporarily halts supply chain of Dreamliner

Boeing, the largest aerospace company in the U.S., will once again alter the supply chain for its hotly anticipated 787 Dreamliner jets as its executives debate how a fire aboard one of the planes last month during a test flight will affect the plane's delivery schedule.

Boeing announced that it has shifted the supply chain for 16 working days, initiating the adjustment period at the end of November. Boeing has an extensive supply chain that spans many different suppliers, or "partners" as the company refers to them. This most recent delay comes as the plane awaits its final-body join, a process by which the wings, fuselage and other instrumental parts of the plane are finally joined.

Scott Lefeber, a spokesman for Boeing, affirmed that the postponement does not affect the first-delivery schedule, but myriad troubles have plagued the Dreamliner and this newest delay could cause concern as the plane has been delayed six times and is nearly three years behind schedule after suffering ostensibly endless supply chain disruptions.

Nonetheless, Lefeber asserted that they have instructed their suppliers to complete work on parts "rather than pass along out-of-sequence work to our final assembly factory." The in-flight fire last month prompted Boeing "to make temporary schedule adjustments as needed to ensure the entire production system flows," according to Lefeber and is yet another setback in the plane's assembly.