Dreamliner 787 Case Study

The Boeing Company designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide. It operates in five segments: Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Military Aircraft, Network & Space Systems, Global Services & Support, and Boeing Capital. The Commercial Airplanes segment develops, produces, and markets commercial jet aircraft for various passenger and cargo requirements; and provides related support services to the commercial airline industry. This segment also offers aviation services support, aircraft modifications, spare parts, training, maintenance documents, and technical advice to commercial and government customers. The Boeing Military Aircraft segment researches, develops, produces, and modifies manned and unmanned military aircraft, and weapons systems for global strike, vertical lift, and autonomous systems, as well as mobility, surveillance, and engagement. The Network & Space Systems segment researches, develops, produces, and modifies strategic defense and intelligence systems, satellite systems, and space exploration products.

I am the Project Manager developing the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The development of this state-of-the-art airplane will include an international team of aerospace companies led by Boeing. The advances in this airplane will reduce the use of fuel by 20%, increase cargo capacity, increase nautical miles in a mid-range airplane, and improve passenger comfort. Boeing

This business level strategy allows Boeing to create distinctive competencies from its rival, Airbus and gain an edge over them. Boeing has been successful in maintaining this business model due to its high R&D which has led to some great innovations in aircraft manufacturing such as the production of Advanced Winglet, Digital Airline, Performance Based Navigation System to name a few. Boeing has also prioritized customer service in their corporate strategies and have implemented GoldCare IT Enterprise Suite as means of 24/7 customer service regarding operations along with AOG solutions as means of after sales service to the customers. As mentioned Boeing Dreamliner 787 has been created keeping in mind the customers’ psychological desires in mind which sets Boeing apart. Boeing has been very successful over the years to create their competitive advantage and maintain its superior performance and they continue to do

Many consider Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner an example of a failed project. Twenty-six billion dollars over budget, almost four years late, and several quality issues surround the innovative new aircraft (Ausick 2014). This paper explores Boeing’s approach of materializing the Dreamliner from a project management perspective by comparing the company’s undertakings with project management principles.

The Boeing Corporation is the world’s leading aerospace company and is the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners as well as military aircrafts. Boeing has teams that manufacture missiles, satellites, defense systems, and communication systems. NASA turns to Boeing when they need something and Boeing operates the International Space Station. Boeing has a broad range of capabilities and skills, which is probably the reason they are the world’s leading aerospace company. With the Boeing headquarters in Chicago, more than 170,000 people in 70 different countries find themselves employed with the corporation and

Boeing corporations is an American based Multi-National-Corporation that designs, produces and distributes both military and commercial Aircraft. As a Multi-National-Corporation, Boeing has offices and factories in different countries and have a centralised head office in Chicago where they coordinate global management. One of Boeing's flagship products is the Boeing 787-Dreamliner which is a mid-range commercial aircraft. The Boeing 787 is one of the latest Boeing Products that demonstrates the principals of a Multi-National-Corporation. It sources components, from 7 different countries, as well as utilising research and technology facilities across 20 countries worldwide.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes' launched the 787 Dreamliner, a super-efficient airplane in order to meet the growing needs and preferences of an international audience across the globe. An

It is suggested that the travel industry and the aerospace and defense industry as a whole will continue to grow on the basis of the strong demand emanating from domestic demand as well as globalization. This may give a major boost to the demand for 7E7s as the airlines are already concerned about high fuel costs intensifying out of increased demands from emerging economies like India and China and reduced production. Better design modifications is going to be a major strength for the 7E7 as Boeing is betting on the future of small-mid size airplanes which can fly short as well as long distances with its fuel efficient engines. From an investment perspective, with interest rates at it's lowest in decades, with 911 behind us, and barring a major pandemic such as SARS, the timing seems right for Boeing to pursue this endeavor.

In a strategy similar to that of Airbus, Boeing absorbed its largest rival, McDonnell Douglas, in 1977. Boeing’s newest entry into the market is the 787 Dreamliner, a revolutionary jetliner manufactured with up to 50 percent composition materials and designed to increase fuel efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The aircraft has suffered several problems since the first model rolled off the line in 2007, most notably with the lithium-ion battery pack. These issues were resolved in 2013 and Boeing expects the 787 to be incredibly successful due to new demand for super-efficient airliners, a result of rising global fuel prices. Boeing is the wworld’s largest aerospace company, and the leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. The company designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems. They are a major

Boeing’s management plan shows determination to improve through creation of new more members of their airplane family (commercial airplanes). This would also be achieved through integration of military platforms, systems for defense and the war fighter by use of network-centric activities. Boeing plan is also inclusive of creation of improved technology to solve problems across all business units. Boeing plans to e-enable airplanes where automation is the key to this development. Finally, Boeing is determined to arrange for financing solutions to its customers. Through this it will be able to attract more potential customers. Moreover, it can also be able to establish a better relationship with its customers through provision of incentives and sales promotion.

This is a case about three different companies dedicated to the manufacturing of aircrafts. Those three major companies are: Boeing, Airbus Industry and McDonnell Douglas; each of one was struggling to produce enough aircraft to satisfy a seemingly unquenchable need for passenger and freight transport around the world, developed in this form many kinds of aircrafts in different models and styles.

Boeing adopted the radical change approach for designing and developing the 787 Dreamliner not only to attempt to create new aircraft through the innovative design and advanced material, but it also drastically changed the production process. With a $10 billion dollar project in mind, the goal was to reduce the financial risks involved as well as the new product development cycle time. Meanwhile, Boeing produced a remarkably complicated supply chain that included greater than fifty partners in over 100 locations all across the globe. In addition to the complicated supply chain, they experimented with various firms in diverse areas to align complementary skill sets. Furthermore, this was the first time the company outsourced the two most crucial parts of the plane, the wings and the fuselage.

6.2 The Boeing model adopted was to spread the design and development to suppliers on a global scale with costs met by suppliers (Ostrower & Lublin, 2013). A strategy such as this should have been tightly controlled from the outset. Without this control, difficulties in assembly and ill-fitting parts requiring redesign added to the delays experienced by the project (Denning, 2013), with hundreds of Boeing engineers sent to various companies to solve technical problems (Tang & Zimmerman, 2009).

This paper analyzes the goals and actions of Boeing by analyzing its critical success factors as well as its strategic roadmap.

As the largest aerospace company in the world, the Boeing Company employees more than 153,000 people in some 67 countries. The great dominance of Boeing is due to its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas Corporation, an aerospace manufacturer, and its 1996 purchase of the defense and space units of Rockwell International Corporation, an aerospace contractor. The corporation is the world’s number one maker of commercial jetliners and military aircraft with more than 9,000 commercial planes in service worldwide, including the 717 through 777 families of jets