Robots can’t take your jobs: Boeing’s humans step in after machines fumble assembly of 777 jets

Score one for humans. After four years of trial and error, Boeing Co. is dumping the robots that build two main fuselage sections for its 777 jetliners and the upgraded model known as 777X. Instead, the Chicago-based planemaker will rely on skilled mechanics to manually insert fasteners into holes drilled along the circumference of the airplane by an automated system known as “flex tracks,” which it developed and honed on the 787 Dreamliner.

The shift to the new human-plus-machine system began during the second quarter and should be complete by year’s end, Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman said in a statement. Boeing doesn’t plan any change in total staffing for its 777 jetliners, which are manufactured in Everett, Washington, about an hour north of Seattle.

“The flex track solution has proven more reliable, requiring less work by hand and less rework, than what the robots were capable of,” he said.