Boeing Manufacturing Plant Tour

ZUKO

Well-Known Member
So I am pretty excited for this. I am home in the place I grew up (seattle suburb) for the next week.

My dad and I have tickets to tour the Boeing manufacturing plant in Redmond. Anyone ever been on it? I will offer impressions tomorrow afternoon. I am also twice as excited because I just got done taking an operations related business class and I am interested to see how their production techniques relate to what I learned in class.

I hear you there are no rest rooms and you can't take pictures.
 
I did it - it was well worth the price of admission. Even my wife who isn't big into airplanes thought it was awesome.

Just don't be surprised when you're the only Americans there.
 
I did the tour. Really interesting to see how boeing does stuff.

A little smoke and mirrors with the 787 presentation, but interesting none-the-less.

Just as long as you go into it realizing it's a sales pitch to passengers, you'll love it.

I did get more airplane-nerd enjoyment from the BFI museum......
 
I was supposed to go on the tour a couple of years ago while staying in Seattle for a couple of days. Unfortunately for me the workers went on strike the day of the tour. I have heard it is worth it though.
 
I did it - it was well worth the price of admission. Even my wife who isn't big into airplanes thought it was awesome.

Just don't be surprised when you're the only Americans there.

Is there a fee now? Last time I went it was free.

I'll be there next week and plan on going again...it's been a really long time.
 
Is there a fee now? Last time I went it was free.

I'll be there next week and plan on going again...it's been a really long time.

It was $15 per person - make sure you buy online ahead of time, it was sold out when I went (to people walking up)
 
Boeing Plant Tour

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/tours/

Tickets

For reservations, call 360-756-0086 or toll free, 1-800-464-1476, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific Time). You can also make reservations online.

Non-reserved tickets are sold on site for same day use, beginning at 8:30 a.m. until all tickets for the day are gone. Visitors may pick up tickets for any tour during the day.

Admission & Tickets

Admission Rates

General Admission ........... $15.00
Senior Citizen (65+) ......... $14.00
Active Military (with ID) .... $14.00
Children (15 and under) ..... $8.00
Must be 4' or taller to take the Boeing Tour.
No exceptions to this policy


Gallery Only (no Boeing Tour) ................. $9.00
Gallery Only Children (6-15 years) .......... $4.00
No ticket is required for children under age 6
Boeing Employee (with current ID) .......... $7.50
Advance Ticket Convenience Charge * ... $2.50
 
Boeing Tour

I did not realize the public tour was not free. Perhaps it used to be. I thought I heard of it being free to those who can present an airline ID.

I was fortunate enough to do a VIP tour of the Everett factory in 2005. I was with a group of interns, one of which contacted a B-787 engineer she met through her boss. This engineer took us on a thorough and comprehensive tour of the entire premises, including walking all around the factory floor and inside the airplanes that were at various stages of construction.

Walking around the corner and seeing a 767-200 up on jacks is really something. Lots of 777s and 747Fs and passenger 747-400s in the green metal stage of production and others almost complete.

One observation I remember was that there appeared to be more craftsmanship involved in constructing these jets than I imagined. You tour various manufacturing plants over time and they are all alike in that there are conveyor belts everywhere and things are moving on assembly lines. The Boeing plant is an assembly line but did not resemble one. Instead the planes just sit there and dozens of people are all over it at once, building it from the ground up.

At the end of the day we walked up to Vietnam Airlines B-777-200 VN-A149
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Vietnam-Airlines/Boeing-777-2Q8-ER/1267249/L/

They had a bunch of little cloth foot covers that everyone had to put over their shoes before going up the stairs inside the airplane. This one was very obviously in the last stages of production compared with the planes we'd walked through earlier that day. The engine cowls were being closed. Power was on and technicians were in the cockpit running through what appeared to be quite a comprehensive, longer than usual checklist on a clipboard. Workers in the cabin were removing plastic covers from every seat, armrest, seat TV, you name it. The covers were coming off and this thing smelled so nice inside I cannot even describe it. The guy at the door as we walked out of it said it was rolling out of the building that evening and was now ready for the paint shop. It was literally in the final hours of production.

ZUKO - you will enjoy the tour immensely and I think you will share the same feeling everyone has when they leave: a new appreciation for Boeing airplanes.
 
My dad and I have tickets to tour the Boeing manufacturing plant in Redmond
.

Do you mean Everett?

Anyhow, terrific tour. Well worth the drive and price of admission. Hop over to Snohomish and say hi to the folks at Harvey Field for me while you're up that way....
 
I just got back from WA and did take the tour. Things have chnaged since the time when the tour was free. It's very "touristy" now and not worth the $15.00!

The tour takes about 1.5 hours and takes you to 3 different production lines. You get to see a bunch of unfinished airplanes just sitting there while a majority of the work takes place inside the aircraft. No cool sparks flying etc. Just a very quite and clean place where aircraft are being assembled. All the parts are made elsewhere (worldwide) and brought in for assembly so the plant is not really a "factory".

Anyway I'm glad I took my nephews and it was way better then a day at the office, but next time I'll make sure and use the day to go down to the museum instead of the Future of Flight tour/gallery.
 
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