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Risk Management Case Study Boeing Dreamliner Essay

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Development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Introduction
In 2003, Boeing launched a project to build a new airframe that had the original designation of 7E7 Dreamliner. In January 2005, the aircraft was redesigned the 787 Dreamliner. Boeing’s intent was to utilize new technology and procurement processes to build two versions of the aircraft. The 787-8 was designed to carry 210 to 250 passengers on routes of 7,650 to 8,200 nautical miles and the stretch version (787-9) was designed to transport 250 to 290 passengers on typically longer routes of 8,000 to 8,500 nautical miles. The advanced technology would allow Boeing to produce aircraft that were more fuel efficient, would produce fewer emissions and had a significantly better cash …show more content…

This resulted in information “silos” between Boeing and the contractors that did not lend themselves to a good flow of data. To combat these challenges, Boeing embarked on a strategy to purchase some of the vendors. The acquisition costs for the company were obviously not accounted for at the beginning of the project and although those costs may have been operationalized over the fixed expenses, Boeing still suffered and large losses in capital as a result.

The result of the large cost over-runs due to change orders and the unforeseen expenses of vendor and supplier acquisitions to compensate for low quality and to regain intellectual properties resulted in a general variance in the cost constraint of the entire program. Either of these two factors could have sunk a less well capitalized organization, but Boeing’s sheer size precluded this even though both factors came to fruition.

Fault Tree Two- Program Delay
Variances in the time constraints of projects are also common, but Boeing experienced several challenges because of the use of a carbon fiber composite material that was used in 70% of the aircraft. This change in material was revolutionary, but offered risks that were not fully conceptualized until the engineering phase of the project began. The fault tree below describes the primary risk, the secondary risks and the root causes for each.

The engineers and business development divisions at Boeing decided to utilize carbon fiber material for the

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