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The “Dream” Liner
By David Glenn Cox
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy. ~ Robert Burns
Ah, but what of Mousie dear with stacks of money holding back the door, with thoughts of secret longing, unable to answer but with more and more. Boeing aircraft has a long and storied past in the annals of aircraft manufacturing. These are people who know how to build an airframe and how to incorporate cutting edge technology into an intelligent aircraft.
Only Boeing management decided to deviate from its long held formula on its 787 Dreamliner. In its advertising copy Boeing calls the aircraft, “The most anticipated aircraft in the world.” Well, that might be way so, but only in the same way your food is much anticipated in a restaurant, it isn’t really anything for Boeing to brag about.
On the drawing board, the 787 looked to be a quantum leap forward, with a composite carbon fiber fuselage, saving weight and saving fuel and making lots of money. Then Boeing began with some even more revolutionary production ideas. Let’s outsource both production and engineering. It will be so cool; man, we’ll just bolt the pieces together and dispense with those expensive workers on the factory floor.
Boeing had first budgeted $12 billion on development costs for the 787 and aggressively sought subcontractors to supply the new aircraft with subassemblies. By 2010, development costs were already 120% of the budget. Rather than supply subcontractors with specific blue prints Boeing left the engineering to sub contractors as well. One subcontractor didn’t even have an engineering department before landing the contract.
http://beta.fool.com/daveparts/2013/01/23/dream-liner/22516/
4 Comments
I love this, rec’d. You know, by now, whatever money they thought they would save by selling the labor and even the engineering to the lowest bidder will be likely way surpassed by the mess things are in now.
The idea of a ‘green’ plane is a great one, could have created jobs in a declining economy and everything. But now, it’s a hot damn mess.
It absolutely kills me, the irony, that is, that us passengers have to practically strip (I don’t fly much anymore, but over Christmas I had the butt-crack, beltless pants, the confiscated water,the unmatched socks, the body x-ray) while, stay with me here…while the real bomb is now apparently a part of the damn plane!
BTW, your link does not work, or at least it does not work for me!
Thanks for the post.
Hi Dave, always love reading your stuff. I take it you are former Boeing? Mr HotFlash has friends that Boeing moved, then reassigned, and finally dumped. Good folks, and not youngsters, hard to find new jobs.
You are so right abt exporting experience and importing inexperience.
If your subcontractors are incompetent, they can get out from under and you take the flak. And if they are competent, they can bid on the next project themselves, and compete with you. Never figured out why a business would do that, but outsourcing was, as you say, all the rage. I guess I just don’t get rages.
No I’m not former Boeing, I’m former American Worker. For years, I sold Wisconsin and Continental Engines. I watched the factory executives, so obsessed with beating the unions, they didn’t see the large Asian manufacturers coming.
It was easier to lay off the engineering staff and import engines from japan, marketing them under the Wisconsin brand name. Ten year pass and the Wisconsin single cylinder engine line is dead as a door nail, with no new products in the pipeline. The contract with the Japanese company comes up for renewal and surprise, surprise, the Japanese go into business here in the states! They cherry pick the executives for their new American subsidiary from the Wisconsin staff and leave Wisconsin holding their —- in their hands.
I see this pattern over and over, and I am nearly driven mad. *WE* know how to do all this stuff, well, except getting it organized. I used to think that organize meant unions, but frankly, they have been less than helpful. The execs, as you observe, were/are set on breaking the unions, but the union mgmt is as keen on beating mgmt. The workers get the short end of both sticks. But the workers *still* have the know-how. White and blue collar workers will have to unite and organize into worker-owned enterprises. I can’t see any other way to make it work in this country. Do you think this is possible? Engineers and line people have been taught to regard each other as enemies. That’s a crock, but old habits…