APRIL 2015 23 Fabrication’s Portland site has transformed into a Center of Excellence by dan raley | photos by bob ferguson John Iesalnieks doesn’t worry about the morning commute. Traffic reports and big backups don’t concern him. From Boeing Fabrication Portland, where he’s worked as a machinist for 18 years, it’s just a few blocks to his front door. “It’s kind of a small-town feel,” he said. “I go home for lunch.” The bustling outside world still manages to catch up with Iesalnieks. Awaiting him inside the sprawling plant each day is titanium mined and roughly forged in Russia’s Siberian mountain region and shipped nearly 7,000 miles (11,300 kilometers) to Oregon’s largest city. He helps turn it into airplane parts. Iesalnieks bores holes and hones, or finishes, them into 737 flap tracks, which are shiny 4-foot-long (1.2-meter) pieces that help raise and lower Photo: Assembler Tuyet Tran installs bushings in a 787 upper side-of-body chord.
Frontiers April 2015 Issue
To see the actual publication please follow the link above