According to reports, Boeing expects its titanium purchases to increase in 2025. The increase stems from the company's plans to expand production of the narrow-body 737 Max and wide-body 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Boeing hopes that China's titanium smelter will be able to meet its needs for expanding aircraft production to support its long-term goal of producing 50 737s per month between 2025 and 2026 and 10 787s per month by 2026.
Although Boeing is optimistic about the speed of construction of the two aircraft projects, the federal government's production cap caused by quality errors in the 737 and the 787 's parts shortage pose challenges to achieving this goal. Although the monthly production of the 787 is lower than that of the 737, it is still the main driver of Boeing's titanium demand due to its larger size and higher titanium demand.
To address these challenges, Boeing has been working to alleviate bottlenecks in its supply chain and prepare for increased production. This includes expanding the supply base, changing product portfolios and localizing operations to shorten delivery times. Localization will reduce Boeing's need to ship products to overseas forgings, while the company also plans to buy more intermediate titanium products, such as slabs.
In terms of quality certification, Boeing requires suppliers to be more cautious in purchasing raw materials and go through more stringent certification procedures. Previously, titanium parts already used in aircraft production had been verified by fraudulent documents, an issue that triggered an investigation by aviation regulators. Although Boeing stressed there were no problems with the quality of the titanium and the affected aircraft remained safe, it said it would strengthen supervision of its distributors and planned to increase inspection and certification training for suppliers to ensure better tracking of raw materials.
To sum up, while expanding aircraft production, Boeing is committed to optimizing supply chain management and strengthening quality certification to ensure that it can meet future demand for titanium materials and maintain the safety and reliability of its aircraft.
