Overview
Boeing’s Everett Site is heralded as having the largest manufacturing building in the world, producing the 747, 767, 777, and the 787 airplanes. Thousands of aerospace employees in Everett support aircraft fabrication and production, product development, aviation safety and security and airplane certifications. Other production areas at the site include the paint hangars, flight line and delivery center. Originally built in 1967 to manufacture the 747, the main assembly building has grown to enclose 472 million cubic feet of space over 98.3 acres.
In January 1967, the first production workers arrived at Everett, and on May 1, 1967, the major assembly buildings opened their doors for the first time. Thousands of people from all over the world visit the Everett site every year. VIP visitors have included U.S. presidents, international dignitaries, CEOs, astronauts and other celebrities. More than 40 years later, Everett employees are making history again as they manufacture the company's newest twin-aisle airplanes, the 787 Dreamliner and the 747-8. Development of the popular 777X is also based in Everett.
History
In the 1960s, a new jetliner changed the face of global travel and created a new sense of reality for billions of passengers around the world. A legend in its own time, the 747 made aviation history and became one of the greatest technological achievements of the 20th Century.
Boeing built its Everett facility specifically to produce the jumbo jet. Manufacturing of the first 747 began May 1, 1967 and it rolled out the factory door just 16 months later – making world headlines and landing a page in the history books. It paved the way for the 767, 777 and the 787 Dreamliner. Over 150,000 people visit the Everett Site each year to see how wide-body jets with millions of parts and miles of wiring synchronize like a symphony to produce a work of art in flight.
Quick Facts
- The 747 is an impressive 225 feet (68.6 meters) long with a tail as tall as a six-story building and a wingspan that could accommodate 45 cars.
- Approximately 3,600 airplanes combined of the 747, 767, 777 and 787 models have delivered to customers around the world.
- A group of employees, dubbed “The Incredibles,” assembled the first 747-100 at the same time construction workers were building the first factory, which was completed in 1968.
- The Boeing Everett campus is big enough to encompass Disneyland with 12 acres left over for parking.
- More than 30,000 people work at Boeing Everett, which has its own fire department, security team, day care center and fitness center.
- The 767 pioneered long-range twin-jet flight in the 1980s.
- The 777 was originally conceived as a stretched 767, but Boeing instead adopted an all new design.
- As the first airplane largely made with state-of-the-art composite materials, the 787 offers greater efficiency, more durability and a better passenger experience (with lower cabin altitude and higher humidity).