Boeing Scrambles to Repair Problems with New Plane
Boeing Scrambles to Repair Problems With New Plane
Layers of Outsourcing Slow 787 Production; 'Hostage to Suppliers '
By J. LYNN LUNSFORD December 7, 2007
EVERETT, Wash. -- On Tuesday, Boeing Co. will give Wall Street a progress report on its 787 Dreamliner, as it scrambles to overcome a six-month delay in producing the new jet. A look inside the project reveals that the mess stems from one of its main selling points to investors -- global outsourcing. When the Chicago aerospace giant set out four years ago to build the fuel-sipping jet, it figured the chief risk lay in perfecting a process to build much of the plane from carbonfiber plastic instead of aluminum. Boeing focused so hard on getting the science right that it didn 't grasp the significance of another big change: The 787 is the first jet in Boeing 's 91-year history designed largely by other companies. To lower the $10 billion or so it would cost to develop the plane solo, Boeing authorized a team of parts suppliers to design and build major sections of the craft, which it planned to snap together at its Seattle-area factory. But outsourcing so much responsibility has turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated. The supplier problems ranged from language barriers to snafus that erupted when some contractors themselves outsourced chunks of work. An Italian company struggled for months to gain approval to build a fuselage factory on the site of an ancient olive grove. The first Dreamliner to show up at Boeing 's factory was missing tens of thousands of parts, Boeing said. Today, the Dreamliner is at least six months late, and the goal of delivering 109 planes by the end of 2009 is threatened. Rather than being well into flight tests, Boeing is rushing to get the first planes airborne while it helps suppliers around the world bring their factories up to speed. Boeing has said the delays have affected 19 of the 52 airlines that have ordered the 787, some of which were counting on using their
Layers of Outsourcing Slow 787 Production; 'Hostage to Suppliers '
By J. LYNN LUNSFORD December 7, 2007
EVERETT, Wash. -- On Tuesday, Boeing Co. will give Wall Street a progress report on its 787 Dreamliner, as it scrambles to overcome a six-month delay in producing the new jet. A look inside the project reveals that the mess stems from one of its main selling points to investors -- global outsourcing. When the Chicago aerospace giant set out four years ago to build the fuel-sipping jet, it figured the chief risk lay in perfecting a process to build much of the plane from carbonfiber plastic instead of aluminum. Boeing focused so hard on getting the science right that it didn 't grasp the significance of another big change: The 787 is the first jet in Boeing 's 91-year history designed largely by other companies. To lower the $10 billion or so it would cost to develop the plane solo, Boeing authorized a team of parts suppliers to design and build major sections of the craft, which it planned to snap together at its Seattle-area factory. But outsourcing so much responsibility has turned out to be far more difficult than anticipated. The supplier problems ranged from language barriers to snafus that erupted when some contractors themselves outsourced chunks of work. An Italian company struggled for months to gain approval to build a fuselage factory on the site of an ancient olive grove. The first Dreamliner to show up at Boeing 's factory was missing tens of thousands of parts, Boeing said. Today, the Dreamliner is at least six months late, and the goal of delivering 109 planes by the end of 2009 is threatened. Rather than being well into flight tests, Boeing is rushing to get the first planes airborne while it helps suppliers around the world bring their factories up to speed. Boeing has said the delays have affected 19 of the 52 airlines that have ordered the 787, some of which were counting on using their