Boeing and Airbus are the two world leading companies those competitions in the production processes, distributions, and management are under a thoughtful analysis and evaluation all the time (Newhouse 2007). The comparison of the production processes is a good opportunity to learn better the peculiarities of the companies and analyse how the production is actually organised.
In spite of the existing differences and abilities of the giants, Boeing and Airbus demonstrate rather similar approaches of production. Both of them have a kind of multi-country lineage: its parts come from different parts of the world and are gathered in one place. For a long period of time, Airbus was criticised a lot because of numerous delays and cost overruns based on the necessity to wait aircraft’s wings or engine from another part of the world. However, the chosen idea has been justified because even its main competitor, Boeing, follows the same scheme creating its 787 model.
Another peculiar feature of the Boeing 787 is its material: instead of strong metals like aluminium, the company makes use of different composites to introduce a more fuel-efficient product. Airbus prefers to use the standard materials and use aluminium, titanium, and steel for its aircrafts.
BMP Project for Boeing
The attention to the organisational strategy and certain process architecture phases of the company helps to create a powerful BPM project for Boeing in order to address and improve its quality, cost, and delivery. Ireland, Hoskisson, and Hitt (2008) admit that the main Boeing’s problems are the company’s poorly chosen strategy, weak control, and certain leadership shortcomings.
Title: Boeing Production Process
Industry: Aerospace and defence
Business Priority: high quality, low cost, and in time delivery
Improvements: high quality control, open communication with suppliers, properly organised work of the staff.
Date: during the whole production process
Description: Boeing is a powerful body of the industry that has an impact on its overall development and the development of a particular member of the team. It is necessary to control each step in the production process to make sure that a new strategy of the use of composite materials (Hale n.d.) is not harmful and does not influence the quality.
Steps to be taken:
- A theoretical analysis of the components used for the Boeing 787;
- Employees’ education at a high level;
- The cooperation between the countries that produce different parts of the aircraft;
- Setting of the delivery deadlines (in case of lateness, the party that causes the delay should provide certain financial support)
- The delivery deadlines should be different for the supplier and for the final manufacturer so that an additional time is provided.
Issues during the Implement Phase of the BMP Project
Implementing a Boeing BPM project should follow a number of defined principles and rules inherent in any kind of project. The following issues have to be considered by the Boeing Company in case the offered BPM project is approved:
- Understanding of what should be achieved at the end of the BPM;
- Identification of the project’s main goals, timescales, and the essence;
- Evaluation of the technical aspects;
- Analysis of the implementation, identification of its weak and strong aspects;
- Introduction of the alternatives that can be applied on the same conditions but with a new perspective.
All these steps will help to create a successful and effective project for the Boeing 787 production.
References
Hale, J n.d., Boeing 787 from the ground up, A Quarterly Publication Boeing.com. Web.
Ireland, RD, Hoskisson, R, & Hitt, M 2008, Understanding business strategy: Concepts and cases, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Web.
Newhouse, J 2007, Boeing versus airbus, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York. Web.