Model Airplanes

By Jon Ostrower

RENTON, Wash.– Boeing Co. said Tuesday that it has started assembling the first major parts of its first 737 Max
jetliner, a key milestone in the upgrade of its best-selling single-aisle jetliner.

Keith Leverkuhn, vice president and general manager of the 737 Max program, said wing assembly for the first test
aircraft began on May 29, marking “the kick off of the build of the airplane.”

Investors are closely watching Boeing’s progress in building the 737 Max and managing the transition from its
predecessor.

The single-aisle 737, which has been in continuous production in multiple versions since 1966, is among the largest
single contributors to the company’s cash flow and earnings.

The first Max jet will undergo final assembly on a dedicated line beginning in September when its wings are joined
to the fuselage, and is scheduled to make its first test flight early next year and enter service on time with Southwest
Airlines Co. in the third quarter of 2017, said Mr. Leverkuhn.

The start of assembly in the factory south of Seattle begins a complex transition for Boeing as it simultaneously
boosts output of the existing version.

Boeing and rival Airbus Group SE are locked in fierce competition to woo buyers with the promise of a minimum
changes to the design of their

Article source: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/boeing-starts-assembly-of-737-max-jet--update-20150602-01194

A Northwestern University team has confirmed a new way to help the airline industry save dollars while also saving the environment. And the solution comes in three dimensions. By manufacturing aircrafts’ metal parts with 3-D printing, airlines could save a significant amount of fuel, materials, and other resources.

Led by Eric Masanet, the team used aircraft industry data to complete a case study of the life-cycle environmental effects of using 3-D printing for select metal aircraft parts, a technique that is already being adopted by the industry. The team concluded that 3-D printing the lighter and higher performance parts could significantly reduce both manufacturing waste and the weight of the airplane, thus saving fuel and money and decreasing carbon emissions.

Conventional manufacturing methods tend to be inefficient and wasteful. To produce a 1-kilogram bracket for an airplane, for example, it may require 10 kilograms of raw material input into the manufacturing process. And, from an engineering design perspective, that final bracket may still contain much more metal than is required for the job. 3-D printing, on the other hand, requires far less raw material inputs and can further produce parts that minimize weight through better design.

“We have suboptimal designs because we’re limited by conventional manufacturing,” Masanet said. “When you can make something in layer-by-layer fashion, those constraints diminish.”

Masanet does not anticipate a change to the crucial parts of the aircraft, such as the wings and engine, any time soon. But he does see real potential in the replacement of less

Article source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/06/additive-manufacturing-of-plane-parts.html

The ultimate question for investors. Is the glass half full, that is to say are economic backdrops improving to support attractive valuations, or to the contrary, half empty, deteriorating and threatening full valuations?

In the half empty diagnosis, economic growth worldwide has generally been low—the worldwide outlook at about 3.5% for this year. The second largest economy, China, has been slowing, to what will still be an enviable 6-7%, now mainly from emphasis on domestic consumption as opposed to exports, and from a strengthening currency which it hopes can be part of the IMF reserve currency group.

The U.S. had negative Q1 growth, partly weather related, but also from a trade deficit at a 6-year high from the strong dollar causing weakness in exports. But the dollar appears to be peaking, which should help. On the other hand, U.S. mortgage rates have recently risen with the rise in bond rates, the 30-year fixed rate hitting 4%, okay for now, but could hurt housing affordability.

Many economic statistics are mixed—half full and half empty. U.S. unemployment recently dropped to 5.4%, the lowest since ?08, and U.S. wage growth which had been stagnant seems to be accelerating. While corporate earnings are strong and mostly improving, relative growth has not kept up, the earnings helped by unusually, perhaps unsustainably, strong profit margins, and historically high productivity. SP 500 earnings are expected to decline for the first half of this year, the first decline in 6 years, although mostly attributable to the drop in energy prices The

Article source: http://www.gurufocus.com/news/339036/trapeze-asset-management-q1-2015-investor-letter