MGT5IPM International Project Management : Airbus A380

1. a ‘lessons learned’ brief of the two projects, and
2. how these learnings can be adopted into MAC’s growth ambition project.

Firstly, you will need to critically examine what the two companies have done, or may have done, at each phase of the project management cycle (initiation, planning, execution – including monitoring and control but ignoring closing) and how that led to the final outcome.  The outcome could be either positive results or negative results.   As detailed information on the projects is ‘Commercial in Confidence’, it is highly unlikely that any company-originated documents would be available in the public domain.  You will need to rely on company media releases, news reports, and professional case studies for information.  In some instances you will need examine the outcome (e.g., inability to connect electric cablings between A380 aircraft modules) of the relevant project activities (e.g., engineering design) and make some assumptions as to what the companies might have done or not done in terms of following proper project management methodologies (e.g., quality plan …etc).  Focus on the international context whenever you need to.  This is particularly important for the second part of this task.  You are working for a Japanese company, with a female CEO and your supply partners are from across the globe.  What strategies are you going to recommend to your CEO to ensure MAC does not repeat Boeing’s and AirBus’ mistakes because of cultural differences and other issues that are unique to international projects?

The video on the AirBus A380 and 787 will provide a fair amount of information about the issues that both projects faced and should assist you with this task.

Your report should be presented in an essay format. It needs to look and sound professional and to be suitable for presentation in a Business Development debate.

Answer

Introduction

The global aviation industry is strongly dominated by the Airbus and Boeing. It has been evaluated that both Airbus and Boeing had contrasting views about the future of the aviation market. The airplane manufacturing industry had demanded high capital investment intensive due to advanced technological technologies demands and the requirements for highly skilled team of employees. The current assessment is carried out with the intention to study the case studies of two different projects aircraft manufacturing organization. It will evaluate the different issues and factors which led those projects towards failure and made an effective planning for the new project implementation. The assessment will further make recommendations for the new aircraft manufacturing organization of Japan specifically.

Discussions

Critical examinations

Airbus and Boeing are the major players in the aviation industry around the world.  The companies are well known for their services and competitiveness in the industry. The projects such as Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 dream liner were the biggest projects of the aircraft industry intended towards the acquisition of wider air spaces in the industry and make positive results out of the same. The competitive aspects between both the companies had been featured as a duopoly in the entire jet airliner market since the early 90s (Naghi Ganji, Shah, and Coutroubis, 2017, p. 193-205). The Airbus initiated with the most striving project named A380, which was an aircraft which was being designed to accommodate the new and advanced technologies or jumbo jets. The aircraft was designed with the capacity of carrying almost 853 passengers and the crew into it. The 787 Dream liner, a project by Boeing is a midsized, long range, wide-body, twin-engine passenger airliner.  This aircraft was the first airliner with an airframe being constructed mainly of composite materials. The dream liner was being designed to be 20% more fuel efficient as compared to the previous Boeing. The feature that mainly distinguishes the aircraft includes raked wingtips, electrical flight systems and noise reducing chevrons on its engine. 

Possible outcome and lesson learned from Airbus

Both the projects aimed towards the goal of providing revolutionary aircraft but were unable to meet the set timeframes and project deliverables (Lawrence and Thornton, 2017, p.50-56).  It has been identified that the project of Airbus faced a critical failure out of the planning and implementations. There were many reasons which led to the failure of the project of Airbus A380 which included complicated management structure, unresponsive management process, unresolved internal disputes, extensive design changes and many more. It was found that the aircraft company acquired inefficient project management and planning which led the project towards severe problems and failure eventually.  Technology related issues were other critical factors which were identified to be a leading failure issue. The issue related to lack to effective communication was also a major cause which failed in passing the relevant information and managing the project activities effectively. The initiation of the project included the planning and designing of the aircraft which has been completed successfully (Slayton and Spinardi, 2016, p.47-58).

The project of Airbus A380 was delayed by nearly about 2 years and was even over budget by several billion dollars. It has been found that the aircraft included an additional cost of nearly about $6.1 billion over estimated cost due to the delays in project.  The company faced the problem of integrating the complicated wiring system which was required to operate the aircraft along with the metal airframe by which the wiring was needed to be a threaded.  In context to the project management, the poor decision making was also a reason behind the failure of the project (Leoncini, 2016, p.376-386). The inefficient decision made by the authorities to proceed with the projects instead of the facts that the two CAD systems were in use contributed to the emergence of the problems within the project. The decision resulted in many other problems like mismatched calculations, design inconsistencies and configuration management failures.

The estimated project scheduling was not met by the company and thus resulted in the delays of the project indicating a failure out of the same. It has been analyzed that the Airbus had acquired a mismanaged project planning and execution which resulted in the failure.  It has been learned out of the case that the organizational culture plays an important role in any of the project success (Stark, 2015, p.1-29). The project did not focus upon the implementation of effective decision making and professional involvement to avoid any of the inefficiencies in technical and planning aspects.

Possible outcome and lesson learned from Boeing

In addition to this, the project of Boeing 787 had also faced critical issues and failures out of its project management planning.  This was considered to be a special aircraft for the company and was decided to be marketed as the Dreamliner.  The entire project cost to the company was found between 17 and 23 billion dollars while the estimated cost to build was 5 billion dollars (Denning, 2013, p. 36-41). It has been found that there were various difficulties being experienced by Boeing throughout the project development of its highly innovative Dreamliner aircraft. The project managers of Boeing decided to outsource the manufacturing and design for the majority of the parts of aircraft with the purpose to reduce the cost.

The experts however advised the project panel to implement the traditional methods of design and manufacturing used till now prior to the project initiation. The suggestion was being ignored with the intention to cut the cost and the decision of outsourcing was made. The major reason found behind the failure of this project was also the inefficient decision making (Elahi,  Sheikhzadeh and Lamba, 2014, p. 13–28). This outsourcing decision cost the project of Boeing billions of dollars. It has been identified that project management is a process-oriented discipline which includes step by step process to make any of the project simple and successful. The decision of Boeing in this case to outsource the designs and manufacture of the parts of 787 resulted in the reduction in its control over the project activities and its progressions which made the project fail extensively. This made the project more complicated and resulted in a series of problems and errors which were difficult to be overcome in a short span of period.

The Boeing also made a mistake of ignoring the technical experts warning of the risk of outsourcing which resulted in a loss of billions of dollars into the project.  Moreover, it has been also learned that the project authorities must observe and evaluate each and every risk aspect related to the project (Shenhar et al, 2016, p.62-78). This would help in eradicating the risks involved in the project and make the project a success. It is even seen that project management is a widespread concept which includes specific stages to be followed by the project manager to acquire the effective results out of the plan. The failure of the project of Boeing 787 was mainly caused due to its ignorance and wrong decision of outsourcing the designs which led the control of project into other hands. It also reflects the significance of proper scheduling, quality control, cost control and planning of each component of project completion into the project of Boeing.

The authorities of Boeing overlooked the aspects of project management and had not made accurate planning within the project initiation stage. The initiative would have contributed to acquir control over the project despite outsourcing and have not been an example of failure (Moll and Harrigan, 2018, p.110-135). Organizational culture is an important aspect for any organization seeking for an effective project completion.

Possible solutions for MAC

In context to the project of MAC or Murasaki Aircraft Corporation a new aircraft manufacture in Japan, it could be recommended that the organization must incorporate the project management aspects into its business (Kossmann, 2016, p. 25-32). It has been found that project management and organizational culture are major components which contribute to making a project successful. The evaluation of project cases of two aircraft companies revealed the facts that inefficient decision making and project management practices could lead the project towards failure to the great extents.

MAC must focus upon the project planning and execution of the designs for the aircraft by involving exert panels so that to avoid any risk out of the same. Proper risk evaluation would also help the authorities to reduce the impacts and eradicate the issues over the project specifically (Zumstein et al, 2018, p.15-22). Being an international project, it is very important to focus on the cultural differences also so that to avoid any conflicts of decisions or concerns within the project. Providing the team members with the positive environment would motivate them to contribute with innovative ideas and decision for the project. The major mistake being made by both Boeing and Airbus was an inappropriate decision over the project which led them towards severe losses and delays in the projects. It is very important to get the project team, experts and manager involved within the project initiation planning so that to avoid any irrelevant decision out of the same.

The project manager of MAC must consult with the technical experts having proficient knowledge and information regarding the aircraft design and manufacturing sector (Rusten and Bryson, 2017, p.99-120). The advice from experts would make the aircraft manufacturer incorporate effective risk management strategies, controls, and planning prior to the project initiation. It must be ensured that the instructions provided by the experts are not overlooked and must be involved in the planning sessions. It is also important to acquire proper planning, scheduling and budgeting control for the project so that to avoid any further loses to the business. The project manager must monitor and control the project activities by keeping an eye over the project progressions and making effective measures to manage the project effectively.

The manufacturer must also execute effective communication within the project team so that to keep control over each and every component of the project and manage the outcome effectively (Rashid et al, 2018, p.96-136).  It is even recommended to include quality management standards and its related measures within the project so that to avoid any compromises with the parts and face future issues within the aircraft. It is also important to establish effective communication with the suppliers so that to maintain the quality of the parts supplied and use sufficient bargaining power to facilitate any changes.  The manufacturer with the intention to accomplish its project successfully must ensure to assemble a management team with high expertise over the technical and managerial aspects. This would help the project managers in reducing the huge managerial risk over the planning (Shan et al, 2017, p.41-53).  The cost estimation must include a full understanding of the underlying costs of the entire project which would help the aircraft company to manage the cost within its set budget.

The project managers must focus upon the enhancement in the supply chain visibility so that to address the issues on time and manage the same effectively. It would also help in assessing and managing the cultural differences over the global levels. The project concerns of MAC must include all these strategies into its project initiation stage so that would not face any severe failures out of the act (Dörfler and Baumann, 2014, p.197-214). It has been observed that the project success is highly dependent upon effective planning, decision making and control over the project activities. The authorities while initiating the project of manufacturing new aircraft must not overlook any of the risk or mistake involved in the project which would lead the same towards failure. It is also identified that monitoring the project progressions periodically would also help the company to identify any loophole and improve it at the same stage.  This strategy would reduce the risk of cost and time overrun to the great extent. Thus, using these recommendations MAC could acquire efficient project management and success out of its proposed project of aircraft manufacturing effectively (Itskovich et al, 2018, p.164-173).

Conclusion

The above assessment of the case studies had revealed the significance of project management and the related as aspects. It has been found that the aircraft companies acquire inefficient project management planning which led the project towards severe problems and then failure eventually. It has been also learned out of the case that the organizational culture plays an important role in any of the project success. The assessment disclosed that the major mistake made by both Boeing and Airbus was an inappropriate decision over the project which led them towards severe losses and delays in the projects. It had been found that having an efficient project team, experts and manager within the project initiation planning are important so that to avoid any irrelevant decision out of the same.

References

Books and journals:

Denning, S. 2013. What went wrong at Boeing. Strategy & Leadership. 41(3): 36-41.

Dörfler, I. and Baumann, O., 2014. Learning from a drastic failure: the case of the Airbus A380 program. Industry and Innovation, 21(3), pp.197-214.

Elahi, E., Sheikhzadeh, M. and Lamba, N. 2014. An Integrated Outsourcing Framework: Analyzing Boeing's Outsourcing Program for Dreamliner (B787). Knowledge and Process Management.21(1): 13–28

Itskovich, A.A., Fainburg, G.D., Fainburg, I.A. and Chernov, A.O., 2018. THE SYSTEM OF PROCESSES AND PROJECTS OF THE AIRCRAFT AIRWORTHINESS MAINTENANCE. Nau?nyj Vestnik MGTU GA, 21(1), pp.164-173.

Kossmann, M., 2016. Requirements management: How to ensure you achieve what you need from your projects. Routledge.

Lawrence, P.K. and Thornton, D.W., 2017. Deep stall: the turbulent story of Boeing commercial airplanes. Routledge.

Leoncini, R., 2016. Learning-by-failing. An empirical exercise on CIS data. Research Policy, 45(2), pp.376-386.

Moll, J. and Harrigan, F., 2018. We Went Too Far, and We Learnt From It: Management Control in the Development of the Boeing Dreamliner. In Accounting, Innovation and Inter-Organisational Relationships (pp. 110-135). Routledge.

Naghi Ganji, E., Shah, S. and Coutroubis, A., 2017. Case study analysis of sustainable supply chain redesign linking with new product development. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 14, pp.193-205.

Rashid, A., Masood, T., Erkoyuncu, J.A., Tjahjono, B., Khan, N. and Shami, M.U.D., 2018. Enterprise systems' life cycle in pursuit of the resilient smart factory for emerging aircraft industry: a synthesis of Critical Success Factors’(CSFs), theory, knowledge gaps, and implications. Enterprise Information Systems, 12(2), pp.96-136.

Rusten, G. and Bryson, J.R., 2017. Spatial divisions of expertise and transnational ‘service’firms: aerospace and management consultancy. In Knowledge-based services, internationalization and regional development (pp. 99-120). Routledge.

Shan, S., Hu, Z., Liu, Z., Shi, J., Wang, L. and Bi, Z., 2017. An adaptive genetic algorithm for demand-driven and resource-constrained project scheduling in aircraft assembly. Information Technology and Management, 18(1), pp.41-53.

Shenhar, A.J., Holzmann, V., Melamed, B. and Zhao, Y., 2016. The Challenge of Innovation in Highly Complex Projects: What Can We Learn from Boeing's Dreamliner Experience?. Project Management Journal, 47(2), pp.62-78.

Slayton, R. and Spinardi, G., 2016. Radical innovation in scaling up: Boeing’s Dreamliner and the challenge of socio-technical transitions. Technovation, 47, pp.47-58.

Stark, J., 2015. Product lifecycle management. In Product Lifecycle Management (Volume 1) (pp. 1-29). Springer, Cham.

Zumstein, J.M., Chang, J.T., Farmer, J.C., Kovotsky, J., Lavietes, A. and Trebes, J.E., Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC, 2018. Wireless battery management control and monitoring system. U.S. Patent 9,869,726.