Insight Wednesday 15 January 2020: Airbus focusing on automated manufacturing that Boeing must match

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While Boeing is totally focused on fixing the problems with the 737MAX, its major competitor, Airbus, has focused on advances in manufacturability and the facilities in which they are built.  Over the long-term, this could provide a significant advantage if a production gap develops between Airbus and Boeing.

Airbus is now successfully integrating additional automation in its assembly line in Hamburg, while Boeing could not make similar technology work for its forthcoming 777-X line in Everett and abandoned that automated technology for conventional, but more labor intensive, processes.