This week, Boeing officially cranked the production rate of its 737 Next Generation plane to 42 per month, an all-time high.
That's a 33% jump over 2010, when Boeing was producing 31.5 a month at its Renton, Wash., factory.
While problems continue to plague the 787 Dreamliner, which debuted in the U.S. at the end of 2012, Boeing's older models are reliable enough to warrant an increased production rate.
"Efficiency improvements in the factory, many of them developed by our employees, are a big part of why we are able to successfully increase the number of airplanes we build,"Beverly Wyse, vice president and general manager, 737 Program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement.
The first 737NG produced at the new rate will debut by the end of March and Boeing execs hope to increase production even further, to 47 planes a month by 2017.
Boeing is now building 42 planes a month in its Renton, Wash., factory, up from 31.5 planes a month in 2010.
Last year, the aeronautics giant finished with a record backlog of 5,100 airplanes.
[Source: Businessweek]
The 737 is Boeing's best-selling jet partly thanks to its fuel efficiency, a big plus for cash-strapped airlines.
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