[Satellite Today 08-12-08] Boeing has unveiled a new process for assembling satellites at its facility in El Segundo, Calif, that it hopes will shorten the time needed to build a space vehicle, the company announced Aug. 11.
    The new process will move parts through 13 pulse positions, cutting down manufacturing processes, and eliminating rework, the company said. The first satellites to be manufactured on the pulse line will be the GPS 2F satellites Boeing is building for the U.S. Air Force. New work  cells, new tooling, standard work-planning packages and lean manufacturing  processes will reduce the total build time per satellite and increase the  number of vehicles moving through the line at one time.
    "With 12 satellites on order, the GPS program is ideal for a  manufacturing pulse line, because similar satellites can easily adapt to a  process that mirrors mass production," Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, said in a statement. "The value of a pulse line is that it increases efficiency and therefore enables us  to reduce costs. As we continue to simplify our satellite designs in order to standardize the items that are inherent in every spacecraft built by Boeing, the implementation of a pulse line will yield tremendous benefits  in the areas of efficiency and cost savings."
    All Boeing’s satellite production lines will adopt the new process over time, the company said.