The Dreamliner Drama Continues

For the past few weeks we have been watching, listening and reading news about the problems faced by the much-heralded Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Authorities around the world last week grounded the new 787 Dreamliner, and Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a lithium-ion battery prompted an All Nippon Airways 787 into the emergency landing at Takamatsu airport during a domestic flight. To add to the failure lists, the 787 Dreamliner has also been hit with a series of problems including fuel leaks and a cracked cockpit windscreen. Some sources cite that the reliance on electrical signals for almost everything in its operation makes the 787 Dreamliner a vulnerable aircraft and prone to electrical failure.

Two major airlines in Japan grounded all Boeing 787 jets on Jan. 16 after one had to make an emergency landing. (Source: AP)

A few days ago, I stumbled upon an interesting news article from The Washington Post titled “Is outsourcing to blame for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner woes?”. The article is interesting to me because the problem is now seemed to be centered towards outsourcing of components and human error. The critical component that is prone to failure, the lithium-ion batteries, are Japanese-made. This has prompted criticism from many of Boeing own former and current employees. Boeing is being criticized for being far too reliant on offshore suppliers for the 787’s production. This problem arises because the airliner is billions of dollars over budget and three years late from the promised operational time. So Boeing now transfers a large portions of its manufacturing and production lines to many foreign countries to cut cost and also to take advantage of the cheaper and abundant manufacturing materials and labor force. From an economic viewpoint, to put it vaguely, I think Boeing is building its manufacturing facilities in foreign countries due to cheaper work labors and services.

The drawback of this approach is that some of the pieces manufactured by far-flung suppliers did not fit together. Apart from that, there is also the issue of qualified experts operating in Boeing's facilities in the foreign nations. Since the final assembly of all the parts take place in Boeing’s facility in the United States, there will always be the constant problem of mismatch of parts or confusion with the scaling or measuring systems. A quick fact about the new 787 Dreamliner; 30% of the aircraft components are of foreign origins, including the Japanese-made lithium-ion batteries that are being blamed for the failure of the 787 Dreamliner. In comparison to its older brother, the Boeing 747, which has only 5% of its components made from foreign origins. (Source: the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace)

The damaged main lithium-ion battery, left, from the All Nippon Airways plane that made an emergency landing in Japan on Jan. 16 contrasts with the plane's undamaged auxiliary battery.(Source: Japan Transport Safety Board / January 17, 2013)

I am not saying and accusing that components made from outside of the United States are not of good quality. I’m also not saying that Japan is incapable of making good quality lithium-ion batteries. Its just that when Boeing employs a strategy to manufacture or have parts of the 787 Dreamliner made from other parts of the globe, the main problem that will happen is that the US-based manufacturers will have a hard time finding and evaluating the systems made from foreign origin. To make matters worst, the huge collections of components by hundreds of suppliers from tens of countries will make troubleshooting even more difficult. Outsourcing of some components, including the Japanese-made lithium-ion batteries, even made some of Boeing’s own employees mistrust the 787 Dreamliner.

However, the 787 Dreamliner is an aircraft not to be taken lightly. There are still a huge number of optimist folks out there that believe and confident that Boeing will work out the issues currently being experienced by the 787 Dreamliner and ultimately be a very reliable aircraft.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/18/is-outsourcing-to-blame-for-boeings-787-woes/