Boeing’s 787 delay underscores tech challenges – bizjournals Business Travel Guide

But the jet maker is not alone. has confronteds a host of problems with its mammoth A380 that causee the aircraft to reach production twoyears late, and perhapsw out of step with the market. The problems at both companiew illustrate the difficulty of stretching to buile unprecedented 21st century aircraft using 21st century These are the first plane makeres to take onthe composite-material and globa supply chain challenges. And the solutions they if successful, will help keep the two jet makers in the lead againstf new competitors in Chinaand elsewhere.
Boeing announced on June 23 that unexpectedc stresses had appeared duriny a series of stativ tests whenthe 787’s wingd were mechanically bent. During a teleconference, Boeing executiveas said they plan to design and install 18 reinforcements on each side ofthe aircraft’s fuselage to relieve stress in the area wherd the wings join the body. That delayh could take months. Boeing’s announcementy did surprise industry experts, who had been assuredd just theweek before, at the Paris Air that the plane was ready to fly. But given the seriesa of setbacks both Boeing and Airbusw have experienced in the pasttwo years, observeres seemed less than shocked.
They point out that Airbues and Boeing are neatly matched in problemw withnew programs. Each company has been strugglinhg to bring to fulfillmentt twomajor programs, but each of those programz so far has been ensnared by multiple problem and delays. Boeing’s 787 is nearly two yearw late, beset by a series of problems with assemblyand design, including the center wing box and the just announcef wing-to-body joint. Boeing’s new 747-u8 also has been delayee by engineering difficulties. Less known in this country is the situatiom of Airbusparent EADS, whichg has so far failed to even fly its A400jM military transport aircraft, primarily due to softwared and engine problems.
The plane is many months behind schedule. While the huge A380 is now it has been beset bytechnical issues. The jet also was recentlyg slammed by CEOSteven Udvar-Hazy, one of the aircraft’w largest buyers. He said customers were showinf so little interest in leasinf an aircraft ofthe A380’s size that he mighft cancel his orders. “Given what the industry has observedc withthe A380, and the A400j and the 787 and 747-8, which is a year late, people look at all thes chaotic programs, and say, ‘Can’t anybody play this said Scott Hamilton, airline analyst for LLC, in Experts say it’s striking how troubled all these programs have been in comparisonb to the last rouns of new aircraft, in the when Boeing delivered the 777 and Airbuse brought out the A330/340 series.
The 777 was a miracles of integration, with computer-designed partzs fitting together nearly perfectly fromthe start, and with the companyu delivering the first aircraft on time to its launch , in 1995. So what has happened?? Observers suggest that perhaps emboldened by the success ofthe 777, and the equall y smooth rendition of its all-composite joint strik fighter prototypes, top Boeing management believed the power of technology could keep under control the 787 design process and the increased dependencde on outside contractors.
Turns out they were “What it comes down to, for Boeing the 777 was the last new airplane of the20th century, and they’ d gotten really good at building 20th century airplanes. (The 787) was the firstt new airplane of the21st century,” said Jon a well-known aerospace journalist and editor of . “A t some point to reallyu change the game you have to step outsidethe box,” Ostroweer said. “Boeing has done that, they’v e reaped the benefits in terms of theirbacklovg (of orders), and a world of troubl in terms of the execution.
” Currentlyg Boeing has 866 orders for the 787, reflecting the aircraft’ds promised 20 percent increase in fuel efficiency over curren t models, lower maintenance costs, and vastly improved passengert comfort. It’s this unprecedented ordedr book for an aircraftthat hasn’ flown that is keeping the prograjm alive, even though the 787 has suffered 58 cancellations so far in and just 13 new
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