Boeing Co yesterday said it has cut orders to local suppliers as it had to cut back on production of 737 MAX airplanes, but orders could recover once the ban is lifted is lifted and it resumes production.
Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔) estimated earlier this year that it could see a revenue loss of up to NT$100 million (US$3.26 million) due to fewer orders from the US firm for its products, such as doors.
Other Taiwanese suppliers include Drewloong Precision Inc (駐龍), Gloria Material Technology Corp (榮剛) and Magnate Technology Co (晟田), according to Taishin Securities Investment Advisory Co (台新投顧).
Since the 737 MAX aircraft was grounded in March, Boeing has cut its monthly production from 52 airplanes to 42, marketing vice president Randy Tinseth told a news conference in Taipei.
The aircraft was grounded after two crashes in October last year and March.
“But the production continues. Once the aircraft returns to service, our plan is to slowly, but consistently increase the rate over time,” Tinseth said.
The company’s production system is strong, so it can accelerate the production at a later time, he said.
Tinseth reiterated that the company is hoping to receive regulatory approval for the 737 MAX to return to service this quarter, although some of its customers — including United Airlines, American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co — have announced that they are suspending operations of the 737 MAX until January.
“Our customers are just being conservative, as they do not want to disappoint their passengers,” Tinseth said, adding that it might take a few weeks for all the 400 grounded airplanes to return to service.
The company has been working closely with the US Federal Aviation Administration and regulators elsewhere to solve the aircraft’s problems, he added.
Once its production resumes, Boeing would need to review its supply chain and adjust its production schedule, but it is likely that orders to local suppliers would recover, Boeing regional director of communications for the Northeast Asia Kevin Yoo said.
AIDC has kept communicating with the US company and adjusted its manufacturing accordingly, general manager Ma Wan-june (馬萬鈞) said by telephone, adding that he expects the grounding to be lifted soon.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained