Boeing Case

CASE STUDY – BOEING 767 PROGRAM

Questions:

1. Explain Boeing’s approach to project management identifying strengths and weaknesses.

Ans: Project Management –

The approach to project management was principally aimed at adhering to the following factors:

- Production Schedule

- Predefined Cost

- Inclusion of Learning curves with the intention of increasing efficiency.

These factors were an outcome of the findings given by the New Airplane Program (NAP) Study group. The main objective of this study was to review companies past experiences with each of its major programs, so that the problems sustained in the previous programs would not be repeated. Further the study would also give a heads up for many roadblocks that would occur in the project lifecycle, thus helping in developing a project plan that was comprehensive, with the available information and efficient with the inclusion of various learning’s obtained from the study.

The project plan consisted of the following stages:

Program Definition

This stage held utmost importance as it formed the premise for the latter part of the project life cycle. Teams were asked to foresee project airline needs considering the inclusion of new technologies that might be available in the within the coming years, further estimating development and production costs.

This stage consisted of multiple activities. It started with the market assessment, analysts gathered information regarding future opportunities by engaging in discussion with major airlines. Once the initial idea of the requirements were obtained the design specifications phase starts followed by technological analysis. Technology development includes sub areas, and each area has its own team and supervisor responsible for controlling research, development and application of the technology. Audit teams are setup to review every aspect of the program definition which is then carried forward in the following stages....