FlyBoeingJets
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Boeing outsources 7E7 work to Japanese companies
Fri Nov 21, 6:18 AM ET Add Business - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!
By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
Japanese suppliers will design and build more than one-third of Boeing's proposed 7E7 model, including the wing, the airplane maker said Thursday.
The announcement, while expected, marks an aviation milestone. For its entire history, Boeing has jealously guarded its techniques for designing and mass producing commercial jetliner wings.
Transferring that know-how to the Japanese fits with Boeing's drive to shrink development costs, while increasing the odds of selling airplanes to partner nations.
Previous generations of Boeing engineers prided themselves on betting the company to advance innovation. But Mike Bair, senior vice president of the 7E7 program, downplayed that mystique.
"Figuring out what the wings look like, figuring out how to put them on the airplane, understanding whether that's something our customers will buy, understanding how to integrate that stuff, that's the magic Boeing brings to this process," Bair says.
Boeing will build 35% of the 7E7's structure, roughly the same as the aircraft parts divisions of Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji. Alenia Aeronautica of Italy and Vought Aircraft Industries of Dallas will build much of the rest of the plane.
Outsourcing isn't new for Boeing. Japan supplies about 21% of the 777 and 15% of the 767. But the wing was always sacred. Since 1997, Boeing has lost ground to Europe's Airbus.
Sending the 7E7's wing work offshore shows how Boeing's main objective has become "moving as much costs and risks off the books as it can," says Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst at the Teal Group. That strategy backfired in:
•Russia. Boeing established a Moscow design center with 750 engineers. But Russian carrier Aeroflot last year ordered twice as many jets from Airbus vs. Boeing.
•South Africa. Boeing helped set up a small parts manufacturing plant in Pretoria, sending work traditionally done in its Seattle factories. But South African Airways last year ordered 41 jets from Airbus and none from Boeing.
Fri Nov 21, 6:18 AM ET Add Business - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!
By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY
Japanese suppliers will design and build more than one-third of Boeing's proposed 7E7 model, including the wing, the airplane maker said Thursday.
The announcement, while expected, marks an aviation milestone. For its entire history, Boeing has jealously guarded its techniques for designing and mass producing commercial jetliner wings.
Transferring that know-how to the Japanese fits with Boeing's drive to shrink development costs, while increasing the odds of selling airplanes to partner nations.
Previous generations of Boeing engineers prided themselves on betting the company to advance innovation. But Mike Bair, senior vice president of the 7E7 program, downplayed that mystique.
"Figuring out what the wings look like, figuring out how to put them on the airplane, understanding whether that's something our customers will buy, understanding how to integrate that stuff, that's the magic Boeing brings to this process," Bair says.
Boeing will build 35% of the 7E7's structure, roughly the same as the aircraft parts divisions of Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji. Alenia Aeronautica of Italy and Vought Aircraft Industries of Dallas will build much of the rest of the plane.
Outsourcing isn't new for Boeing. Japan supplies about 21% of the 777 and 15% of the 767. But the wing was always sacred. Since 1997, Boeing has lost ground to Europe's Airbus.
Sending the 7E7's wing work offshore shows how Boeing's main objective has become "moving as much costs and risks off the books as it can," says Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst at the Teal Group. That strategy backfired in:
•Russia. Boeing established a Moscow design center with 750 engineers. But Russian carrier Aeroflot last year ordered twice as many jets from Airbus vs. Boeing.
•South Africa. Boeing helped set up a small parts manufacturing plant in Pretoria, sending work traditionally done in its Seattle factories. But South African Airways last year ordered 41 jets from Airbus and none from Boeing.
