During his trip to Paris, Labinal Inc. President Norman Jordan kindly agreed to talk with us about his company’s role on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Is there anything special about Labinal Inc.’s participation in the 787 Dreamliner?

Until now, Boeing designed all the wiring for its commercial airplanes in-house. With the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing decided for the first time to call on an outside supplier for this design work, and we were chosen, which is quite an honor. However, I should also point out that Labinal already manufactures a lot of wiring for Boeing commercial and military aircraft. In other words, our partnership is built on long-standing mutual trust.

In what sense is the 787 an innovative airliner?

With the Boeing 787, we’re really heading towards an all-electric aircraft. Electrical power is replacing hydraulic power on many applications, including the brakes and thrust reversers. All in all, peak electrical consumption could reach about 1,200 kW, versus 300 kW for a comparable aircraft today. For us, that means more connectors and more individual wiring segments, in practical terms over 3,500 and 40,000, respectively. Another challenge lies in the extensive use of composite materials in the aircraft’s structure. That means we have to be much more careful about electromagnetic interference, because we lose the protection of the Faraday cage effect offered by a conventional metallic airframe.

For Labinal Inc., what are the next steps in this program?

For the moment, we are working on the digital design of the aircraft’s wiring. We have to deal with major space restrictions, because today’s jetliners are fitted with more and more systems, but the overall space available doesn’t change! Production will kick off in mid-2006, and we will have slightly over 300 people involved in the program. Boeing is predicting the sale of more than 1,400 aircraft over a 20 year period, and the first 200 will be delivered by 2010. We’re right on schedule to deliver the first shipsets to Boeing.