Boeing is about to take its Renton production facility to the MAX.

This week, workers started building the first 737 MAX aircraft, beginning with the wings.

Machine operators on May 29 loaded 737 MAX wing skin panels and stringers into the new panel assembly line that uses automation to drill holes and install fasteners in the upper and lower wing panels.

Mechanics also loaded the initial parts of the first 737 MAX spars— internal support structures in wings—into automated spar assembly machines. The unfinished skins, stringers and spars were machined by Boeing Fabrication Skin and Spar in Auburn and Fredrickson. When finished, the panels and spars will be transformed into completed wings.

The new 737 MAX wings are a little thicker than the current NG wings because they must handle larger engines.

“This is now showing us the future of what this facility will become,” Keith Leverkuhn, vice president and general manager, 737 MAX, said Tuesday during a press tour of the facility. Leverkuhn added that the original schedule called for the spars to be loaded May 29, the exact day they were brought in.

“Employees in Renton are the best in the world at building single-aisle airplanes and now this world-class team is building the future with the first 737 MAX,” he said in a press release. “Achieving this milestone on schedule is a testament to the success of the 737 and our integrated design and build team.”

The wings will be attached to the first 737 MAX fuselage on the new central line in Renton Final Assembly in September.

The new production line will allow the team to isolate the first 737 MAX build from the rest of production in order to learn and perfect the build process at a slower rate while the Renton factory continues to turn out airplanes at a rate of 42 per month.

The company also plans to continue ramping up production at the Renton plant, jumping to 47 planes in 2017 and then up to 52 planes per month in 2018.

Much of the increase in production comes from new Panel Assembly Line machines that replace the current lines, which have been in use since the 1960s.

According to officials the machines will lead to a 33 percent improvement in the flow through the facility. Currently there are four of the machines in operation, with a total of nine eventually being used.

According to officials the process is currently 70 percent automated and will increase to 90 percent when all of the machines are in place.

Even with the additional automation at the facility, Boeing officials do not expect that any jobs will be affected. In fact, they think more may be created to help meet the demand. More than 10,000 employees presently work at the Renton facility.

“It’s really exciting to be starting something that you know is going to be in the future and that you are going to be building,” said David Dowell, 737 mechanic. “I’m looking forward to it and future growth.”

Beginning in 2017, the new single-aisle 737 MAX will deliver 20 percent lower fuel use than the first Next-Generation 737s and the lowest operating costs in its class—8 percent per seat less than its nearest competitor.

To date, the 737 MAX has 2,720 orders from 57 customers worldwide. The program is scheduled to enter service in 2017.