Boeing: What Really Happened

Business Week - December 15 - Cover Story | 12-7-2003 | B-Cause

[GretchenEE]

bump for later reading

[Cicero]

Boeing was one of the US's few success stories in the area of international trade. This past year it became obvious even to an outsider like myself that Boeing had lost its competitive edge to Airbus, and might never recover. That's a big loss for the whole country, not just for the company.

It seems as if they waited years longer than they should have to dump Condit. And that they never should have promoted him to that position in the first place. Mistakes are made, but this one should have been corrected much sooner. Now I wonder if Boeing can recover its main business.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Clinton Era ethics/Clinton Legacy bump

All in all, a good article(though it ignores naming Linda Daschle, of course)

[leadpenny]

Clinton Era ethics/Clinton Legacy bump

Possibly more profound than what you state.

Said one Boeing lawyer to a senior Boeing executive: "We have another Bill Clinton on our hands."

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

It seems as if they waited years longer than they should have to dump Condit.

They sure did wait for too long. Boeing should have listened to its shareholders as far back as 1997. By that time, Condit had already been making billion-dollar blunders like they were peanut butter cookies.

[blam]

I've seen some speculation as to whether the 7E7 will happen.

[Tacis]

Does this mean the Mrs. Dashole has to give back the money?

[Lessismore]

It is very difficult for a company to be both a defense contractor and a commercial enterprise. Eventually the sleazy socialistic defense side will ruin the integrity and cost structure of the commercial side.

[lelio]

I've seen some speculation as to whether the 7E7 will happen.

Same here, Stonecipher's going to axe this project ASAP. Which is unfortunate as it looks like Everett, WA might get to build it.

[lelio]

Condit gets high marks for the McDonnell Douglas acquisition.

What did the government think was going to happen when they approved of this merger? With only one manufacturer for tanker aircraft you're going to get these sweetheart deals as you can't go to anyone else.

[DManA]

I've been searching all the articles on this subject. Haven't found one yet that mentions Daschle.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[Who dat?]

I worked for an air freight company for a while. Up until 96 or 97 or so they purchased only Boeing planes.

Then they had a big meltdown with Boeing. They had taken delivery of some planes and had pending orders for more, but Boeing did something to piss off the head of the air operation.

Evidently it is a *big* (and expensive) deal when you change aircraft makers. From mechanics that have to be retrained, the pilots have to be trained, you’re used to planes with a certain lift capacity and fuel mileage which is now going to change to some degree, on and on… but they started ordering from Airbus anyway.

Most of the article goes right over my head since I’m not involved in that industry. But you can’t upset customers and cause them to switch (at considerable expense and inconvenience) and expect them to ever come back – especially when they’re more-or-less happy with their current manufacturer, which seems to be the case in this particular instance.

[CyberCowboy777]

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[blam]

Bronner: 7E7 Selection Site Could Be Delayed (Dated 12-3-2003)

[Pukin Dog]

Things are only going to get worse at Boeing. The 7E7 is not good enough to get Airlines to buy it over 737s. Had Boeing gone ahead with the Sonic Cruiser, they would have sucked up all the good will that had gone toward the Concorde.

[jettester]

When I worked for McDonnell Douglas (pre-merger), I got a chance to meet Stonecipher who had come to Long Beach to look things over. He had just come over from GE and St. Louis wanted him to get our costs and production schedules under control. This meeting happened on a Saturday as I had a crew in working overtime to build a key test structure on the T-45 aircraft.

Harry came walking up (I did not know who he was) and introduced himself to me. He immediately wanted to know schedule impacts, cost issues, and anything management could do to improve my work area. I shared a few things with him and then asked him pointblank if he really wanted to hear "how things were." He said yes and I pulled my guys together and he talked with them for about 20 minutes and gave each of them his business card.

I do not remember much changing as a result of that chance meeting, but the fact that he asked, listened, and made the effort left a lasting impression on all of us. Harry made a difference in the long run and he will in charge of Boeing. MDC lived in third place for many years and learned to get by on far less than Boeing did; in fact, many of the lean-manufacturering initiatives that Boeing implemented came from MDC's production floors.

[Pukin Dog]

MDC lived in third place for many years and learned to get by on far less than Boeing did; in fact, many of the lean-manufacturering initiatives that Boeing implemented came from MDC's production floors.

MDC was in third place because they were a bunch of cheap bastards more interested in their penny pinching than putting out a great product. They took no risks, had no vision and ultimately ran out of gas because they took only safe bets, instead of the more bold investments that Boeing made during the same time period.

I am very familiar with Stonecipher, and he will run Boeing right into the ground. Alan Mullaly should be running Boeing, he is the only person with vision in their management these days. Rarely do the people who lose the battle end up running the winner, but Boeing will just suffer the same fate until they regain the type of management willing to risk the company in order to bring innovative products to market.