Paradigms in Aviation--Republished from Sept. 6, 2009

We have talked a lot about paradigms. One current example of the difficulties in changing a paradigm is Boeing's new airplane, the 787. Of course Boeing has been building jet aircraft for over 50 years, but in this model, it has done two things dramatically different. First of all, it has subcontracted out much more of the plane than it had done previously and secondly it has built much of the plane out of new materials, composites. This combination has been disastrous so far for Boeing, with their plane being several years behind schedule. Two interesting articles have recently appeared on the 787, Dreamliner, one in the New York Times and one in Portfolio. Why would such an experienced company screw up so badly? Designing a new model commercial airliner is an extremely expensive enterprise (it cost Boeing $10 billion to develop the 777). Boeing managers thought they could save a lot of money (and follow broad trends in business in general), by handing over the development of major sections of the plane to other companies. One can see how this made sense to Boeing managers at the time, but the problems of being at the mercy of other companies to develop Boeing's core product are now clear. I would encourage you to look at these articles, they are very interesting and give a sense of what goes on in the aviation business, with some of the flavor of Angle of Attack, where sometimes technology is not only about technology.