“As production stabilizes and rates increase over time, we plan to deliberately return buffer inventory to more normal levels.”

In context

“r ended at $435 billion and includes more than 5,500 airplanes. Now, I'll give more color on the key programs. The 737 program delivered 36 airplanes in 4Q, including a step up to 18 in December, and as of yesterday we've delivered 33 airplanes in January with four days to go. On production, we restarted the factory in December and plan to gradually increase rate. We expect to be in a position to go above 38 per month later in the year. All three lines in our rent and factory recycling and monthly production is already in the low to mid 20s for January. More broadly on the master schedule, we continue to make adjustments as needed and manage supplier-by-supplier based on inventory levels. Over the past year, our buffer inventory has grown to promote stability across our production system. As production stabilizes and rates increase over time, we plan to deliberately return buffer inventory to more normal levels. The quarter ended with 55 737-8s built prior to 2023, the majority for customers in China and India, down five from 3Q, with about another 10 already delivered in January. Given the impact of the strike, we now expect to shut down the shadow factory mid-year and deliver all remaining airplanes to customers within the year. On the -7 -10, inventory levels were stable at approximately 35 airplanes and testing on the anti-icing design solution is ongoing with certification expected to follow later in the year. On the 787 program, we delivered 15 airplanes in the quarter as we made progress on working through production recovery plans for heat exchangers and delivery delays associated with seat certifications. The program exited the year at a production rate of five per month and we recently”