There has been much speculation on the reasons for the Boeing purchase of the 787 Aft fuselage fabrication facility in South Carolina. Before anyone rushes to conclusion - chill out a moment.
It should be remembered that Boeing's grand plan for this Automotive style Just-in Time production process for the 787 was deeply flawed. The 787 is not a Smart Car. (Although at this rate it could end up being a bit of an expensive proposition tying down Boeing as Smart has Mercedes). It is a very complex and highly sophisticated integrated system. The plan to outsource technology and essentially risk to partners all over the world and to essentially out Airbus Airbus has not worked. Boeing will not make the same mistake again.
So Boeing has been quietly bringing back all the services in-house and taking direct control of the major subsystems assembly and indeed the design. With so many problems with the project related to a lack of control - ultimately the fault lies with Boeing. It was too ambitious and too complex. Couple this with a corporate culture that was based on a certain degree of elitism and voila - with the benefit of hindsight it didn't work.
However one must applaud Boeing for recognizing the error of its ways. What one cannot be in admiration of has been how the spin has oozed out of Boeing on the 787 transformation.
Using the threat of the so called second line move to another location outside of Washington State has the politicians all up in a tizzy. Chill people!
For Boeing to move and manage 2 separate production lines given the less than stellar performance in getting just the first plane built does not bode well for the company and its long term stock performance. It also is a bit of a smoke screen to move attention away from Boeing's performance on the project so far.
However the Unions must share a certain level of responsibility in making the project work. So far they have acted responsibly and Boeing should at the very least acknowledge this. Should the Unions start to agitate in the next 24 months - then all they are doing is playing to Boeing's game.
And that's the Professor's opinion. What's yours?
