Boeing 787 Insights

erco

http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1392&doc_id=212644

Interesting article on Boeing's long & rocky road to delivering their Dreamliner 3 years late due to supply chain problems. It's a showcase of American innovation (using parts made around the world) and it's nice to see Boeing will deliver their first plane in September.

To All-Nippon Airways...

TonyD

The 787 was a very multinational programme. I'm based in the UK and I worked on a couple of high power motor controllers and a refrigeration unit for the 787. We worked with guys and gals from the US, India and France. It turned out to be a very interesting, if not challenging programme to work .

prof_braino

Boeing built the 747 and said "WE know how to build this airplane", which was true. Then they made a mistake. They interpreted this to mean they 'know how to MANAGE building the airplane, and therefore do not need engineers'. Then they (management) made another mistake. To save budget, they got rid of all the engineers, and used contractors.

The result was (is) that no-one who really understands can take responsibility for seeing to the details of the project. When management said something ridiculous like "this will be finished by the 18th despite the fact that the work estimate says it will take much longer", the contractors said "OK, my contract runs till the 18th". This is the contractor's function. There was no engineer in charge to say "There is no f***ing way that is going to happen! Pull your heads out!". "Aggressive" schedules got more aggressive, people worked later and got more overtime, and NOBODY blinked while they played "schedule roulette" (this is like Russian roulette with schedules, first one to admit they can't meet the schedule is punished).

I had heard the Dreamliner would not meet first flight months beforehand. All the engineers (contractors) knew this rumor, that's how I found out (third or fourth hand). I didn't know that a bolt would be the detail blamed for missing the deadline, I thought it would be the software. Gives us some idea of the extent of the problem. Management had a schedule to keep and somehow juggled the risk for each individual would not get blamed, so "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!".

Somebody said that first flight was originally scheduled for July 8th, 2007 so the date on the photo would b 7/8/7. I don't know if this is true, but basing schedule on a photo-op rather than the time needed to get the work done seems consistent with project anecdotes.

Going on a trip? The 747 is still a great airplane. Sending freight? The 787 is big, new airplane with acknowledged "supply chain issues". Chose wisely, you only get one chance if you get it wrong.

erco

The Zeppelin company's new NT07 airship was scheduled to have its first flight on July 2, 2000, exactly 100 years after the first flight of Count Zeppelin's LZ1. The ship was not finished (surprise), but they had a press conference in the hangar on that still-significant date. The new ship's carbon fiber frame was finished but not yet covered, and during the press conference, they flew a 5-foot long radio control model in and out of the framework. I had built that flying model 4 years prior and presented it to them when I was bicycle-touring through Germany. I was an airship freak as a kid and they gave me an amazing tour of their facility in 1996 during my visit. No one was more surprised than me when I saw that photo of my model flying there, it was extremely gratifying. I'll try to find that pic at home & post it here.