Posted on 05/24/2006 8:23:32 AM PDT by COEXERJ145
LONG BEACH, Calif., May 23, 2006 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today delivered its final two 717 airplanes to Midwest Airlines and AirTran Airways in a ceremony before thousands of employees, retirees and dignitaries in Long Beach, Calif. The deliveries conclude commercial airplane production in Southern California that began in the 1920s with the Douglas Aircraft Co.
The 717 program, which produced 156 airplanes, pioneered breakthrough business and manufacturing processes for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
"Our production system is an industry benchmark because of the lean manufacturing and employee involvement practices we pioneered on the 717 in Long Beach," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally. "The 717 has forever redefined how we build airplanes. We're extremely proud of the airplane, our employees and our many supplier partners on the program."
The program was launched by an order from AirTran Airways in 1995, and the airplane quickly became renowned by customers for its excellent economics, performance and reliability. Based on the Douglas DC-9 and launched as the McDonnell Douglas MD-95, the 100-seater was renamed the Boeing 717 after McDonnell Douglas and Boeing merged in 1997.
Douglas opened the Long Beach factory in 1941 as part of President Roosevelt's Arsenal of Democracy - a request to the nation's industries to halt civilian production and assist in making wartime equipment. The facility produced almost 10,000 airplanes for World War II before transitioning to commercial airplane production after the war. Douglas merged with the McDonnell Aircraft Company in 1967, forming the McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
"Truly, it is our people who have acted with tremendous pride and have achieved all of these great accomplishments," said Pat McKenna, vice president and general manager of the 717 program. "They have done this not only on the 717 program but throughout the Douglas history."
More than 15,000 airplanes have been produced in the Long Beach factory.
I assume Embraeaur(SP) beat them out
'Thanks for your creative input and hard work. Now that we know what you've taught us, we'll teach those techniques to somebody who will do it for less. Screw you, we hated paying you as much as we did.'
Corporations own the intellectual property of proprietary processes, in return for which the creators of those processes get a paycheck and a pink slip, as if they are incapable of more. Such is "visionary" corporate leadership.
Embraer
Ping to You
I like these planes. They're a bit smaller than the 737, and more economical. Still much more comfortable and efficient than the "regional jets" offered by Canadair and Embraer. Why did they discontinue them?
A piece of it, yes, but then I'm not a corporate collectivist.
Shouldn't that be finished up with "so we shut down that plant before it got 'catchy'!"
No orders.
Instead they are kicked out the door when it suits the company and given nothing except a weekly paycheck which ends of course when the company decides to do away with them, with the company keeping the intellectual property and continuing to profit by it.
I would judge from your remarks that you think this is fair and right. I don't happen to agree. Without the intellectual property their capital would not gain them much, certainly not to the same degree they get from the profits made from the intellectual property of others.
Because it impacted on sales of the 737?
It's amazing that 10,000 of these were made during the four years of WWII. What a great company Douglas was. The DC-3 gets my vote as the all-around most successful aircraft of all time. Plenty of them are still flying out of dirt strips in Turd World hell holes, 60 or 70 years after they were built.
At least their successors in Boeing are kicking the snot out of the Eurotrash nowadays.
From what I can tell, the ROI on developing technical skills sucks, bigtime. As long as that's the case, this nation will be screaming for H1-B visas because nobody with that kind of ability would be dumb enough to make the investment. They'll become lawyers instead.
How's that for productivity?
In most cases of large industry, developing "intellectual property" is a very capital intensive process.
Look at it this way. An architect designs your dream house to your specificiation. A civil engineer works out the construction details. Dozens of skilled craftsmen execute the plans and build the house. You pay them all for their services and labor. Do they own your house, or do you own it?
This is not an accurate analogy, because the intellectual property under discussion is an improvement in a manufacturing process. Thus the question isn't about who owns the house as to who owns the knowledge required to make it competitively.
Why doesn't Boeing make a Regional Jet?
What ever happened to the MD-80 line in the Peoples Republic of China?
Labor costs in the US are too high to be competitive in that market. They are involved in the Russian Regional Jet (RRJ)project with Russian aerospace companies. What would be really smart would be to have a common cockpit between the RRJ's and the 787.
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