Completion of Production and Subsequent Modification
As compared to doing modification during production to all the thirty planes that were under production, it is advisable for the Boeing Company to complete the assembly process first then do the modifications later.
One primary reason why the company should implement the option is because this method will guarantee assembly or production of safer airplanes. In engineering endeavour, safety should the primary fact factor that any manufacturing and assembling company should consider, airplanes being transportation machines that fly over great heights and long distances; hence, the need to ensure that they are up to standard.
Failure to take this seriously may put at risk people’s lives, which may make the company to incur numerous liabilities in case of an accident that may result due to a manufacturing error. Under this method, the flaps, ailerons, landing gear, hydraulics, and other aeroplane system are supposed to undergo thorough testing to ascertain their functionality, a case that is contrary if the modifications are to be made during the production process.
As a result of this, likelihoods of the testing procedures changing are high; hence, the nature of high safety risks associated with this method, as this dictates that testing must be done after the two-person cockpit has been fully put in place. Testing before installing the two-person cockpit is very important, as it will facilitate correcting of any assembly problems that may be disguised or not discovered if the production process is started afresh.
In addition to levels of safety that are associated with the this method, this method is also cost-effective, because of the lesser labour hours that it requires, as compared to running the modification and production processes concurrently. In any project it is important to minimise the costs associated with the manufacturing and acquisition of any product to increase its net value, not only to its manufacturers, but also to its purchasers.
A project’s value must have both a business value and make sense in terms of meeting the financial budget requirements, because of huge sums of funds that are required in the commercial aircraft manufacturing industry. Therefore, considering that these thirty planes had been assembled to some level, it would be more expensive to do the modifications along the production process, as this will increase the scrap costs.
On the other hand, to reduce the risk of exceeding the time scheduled for the project, Boeing should take this option as will guarantee that the company will meet all the production deadlines; hence, minimise the likelihoods of incurring losses associated with fines from its customers. This is the case primary because, the airline industry is a fast moving industry and because every firm in the industry wants to meet its strategic goals; any delays in delivery of the ordered aeroplanes will mean a reduction in such companies.
As compared to budget overruns, bearing the liability of late product delivery is more expensive; hence, the need of the company to take an approach that will ensure it minimises the likelihoods of such liabilities arising. Further, although this method may compromise the initial design of the airplanes, because of its associated cockpit configuration risks, this is something that the Boeing Company can minimise by using a careful assembly process, using required management controls.
Finally, this approach is better as compared to running the modification and production process concurrently, because it does not require any disruption of the original production plan. This is very crucial in maintaining the learning curves, as this method will reduce the number of experts that are required to facilitate completion of the thirty aeroplanes.
Maintaining a learning curve is a primary deliverable not only to stakeholders, but also to assemblers, because of the significance of this parties getting acquainted with the required levels of knowledge about the working of the entire aeroplane system. In addition maintaining the learning curve will guarantee an increased rate of production and meeting of all production time schedules.