Boeing aircraft door manufacturing and cost analysis

1989 student internship at Boeing manufacturing program produced the $188-per-pound weight value, close to the $200/lb figure long held secret in the industry.

What's the value of a pound saved on the aluminum of a commercial aircraft over the life of the vehicle? Think how many magazines they put on board — a pound of weight on a commercial aircraft is about $200. Anybody have an idea of how much it is on a military aircraft? They don't make as many military aircraft. The higher performance, lighter weight, higher strength alloys — it's about a thousand dollars a pound for the fuselage now. That number of $200 a pound was secret for many years. That was a competitive edge that Boeing and Airbus had. Except in 1989 we had a student go out and work at Boeing on the manufacturing program, and they did a big analysis and came up with $188 a pound. Close enough to $200 for me.