Word: airbuses
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...cleared Boeing to conquer the skies again. In October 2002, executives of the aircraft manufacturer met with a group of global airline representatives at a conference center on the Seattle waterfront. The executives were trying desperately to figure out what to build next to hold off a soaring Airbus. One Boeing boss drew a graph on a whiteboard, the axes being cruising range and passenger numbers. Then he asked the airline representatives to locate their ideal position on the graph...
...evolve into a more cooperative, power-sharing systems integrator. Opening its eyes and ears to client partners is one lesson that Boeing (now based in Chicago) has learned. And it wasn't an easy one. Not long ago, the company was under fire for losing ground to Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, the competitor that had just primed its ascendancy by investing $10 billion in a modern-day Spruce Goose, the 555-seat A380. In 2003 a paper by two professors at the State University of New York at Buffalo even suggested that Boeing would be out of the jetliner...
...Airbus, which was formed as a consortium of manufacturers, has long been a company that thrived on a shared approach, although most of what it is sharing now is pain. The company's woes--ranging from 10,000 announced layoffs this past spring to the two-year production delays (costing an additional $3 billion) of the A380 have wiped out the lead it had on Boeing. Total orders so far this year show Boeing with 701, 13 more than Airbus. In the weeks following the highly publicized 787 rollout on July 8, Boeing posted its largest quarterly profit in nearly...
...learned by asking. "They went out there and had to come up with a winner," says Ray Neidl, U.S. director of Calyon Securities. "That aircraft would have to be a mainstay in the international, wide-bodied, long-distance competition for years to come." The lesson was kicked off by Airbus' announcement of the giant A380 in 2000, when it was still called the A3XX program. Boeing initially parried with plans for the Sonic Cruiser, to travel nearly the speed of sound, or 20% faster than the Mach 0.85 of conventional jets. "It would have been great for North American, European...
Boeing is planning to shift the emphasis on speed to the production line. It took a page from lean manufacturing to help manage its restructured partner base and outsourcing of parts. The company has pushed outsourcing to new levels, about 70% of the aircraft. (Boeing and Airbus both averaged about 50% on previous jets.) The change in supply management has increased competition among suppliers and subcontractors, which will allow Boeing to speed up final assembly of the 787. The goal is three days, in contrast to 14 days for the 777. Boeing hopes to produce up to 16 aircraft...