Flightglobal: Alenia to acquire 2nd autoclave for 787 production

In this article from Flightglobal, Alenia is planning to acquire a 2nd autoclave for 787 production. Alenia currently has one autoclave and the 2nd one would be used to ensure that there is no disruption in producing the 787 barrels that Alenia supplies. It'll be about two years before it is installed.

Now risk mitigation is very important but one has to wonder if this is also part of Boeing's plan to up 787 production rates to beyond 10/month. Boeing would need to see a healthy uptick in production to get delivery schedules back on track with some airlines warning of up to a 30 month delay in getting their first 787. It would also allow Boeing to meet increase in demand for the airplane which is at just under 900 firm orders. It is already known that some of the Japanese partners have talked about or are making plans to add additional manufacturing capacity to support a higher output.

The worry is also getting secondary and tertiary suppliers to up their production rates to meet the higher output if and when that is decided on, but for now it seems that people are starting to plan for it.