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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBoeing's outsourcing strategy in the spotlight as FAA grounds the Dreamliner
In the wake of the FAA's decision to ground Boeing's snazzy 787 Dreamliner planes after a series of scary incidents, Boeing's decision to outsource the plane's parts to factories around the world is being questioned. It would be hard to overstate the scope of the outsourcing, which involved 50 suppliers and 135 sites, which had already caused the 787 to be released years behind schedule, and which may have contributed to problems now:
Some 70 per cent of the plane is outsourced, said Richard Tortoriello, an analyst at Standard and Poors.
That creates a potential for more problems to occur than if production is centralized, because quality control can be better managed in a centralized process, he said.
Boeing is insistent that its outsourcing strategy isn't responsible for the problems with the planes, and it has the lobbying apparatus in place to make that case to Congress. But after two frightening incidents in eight days, it may be difficult for Boeing to put a lid on the questions being raised. Simultaneously, Boeing is in a contentious contract fight with its unionized engineers and technical workers, who are taking the Dreamliner's problems as another sign of the company's disrespect for their work:
This all has the potential to focus airline customers' attention on the degree of outsourcing that Boeing put into the Dreamliner. And while most people are by now accustomed toif not necessarily happy aboutwearing clothes made wherever in the world workers are paid the least, going a couple miles into the air in a plane sourced from too many places to name may give some people pause.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/18/1180038/-Boeing-s-outsourcing-strategy-in-the-spotlight-as-FAA-grounds-the-Dreamliner
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)before pointing to outsourcing as a cause...
The story didn't mention it, but the 787 battery is made by GS Yuasa, a Japanese firm...
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)on the face of it, that does not sound too bright.
Teamster Jeff
(1,598 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)and spreading those thousands of processes among dozens of the lowest bidders, none of whom have any real stake nor liability in the final results, in order to pocket a few percentage points of additional profits to line the pockets of a few executives is the very definition of globalism.
What could possibly go wrong?