Discuss about the Product Development and Supply Chain Risks.
Murasaki Aircraft Corporation (MAC) is a Japanese aircraft manufacturer that is relatively new in business. The parent company of MAC is Murasaki Heavy Industries (MHI) with 64% of shares and also has Toyota Motor Corporation (10%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%) and Sumitomo Corporation and Mitsui & Co with minor shares. The company is currently producing regional jets and Lisanne, the CEO of MAC is now aspiring to expand the business. The next set of business activities would include medium sized passenger jets which would enhance the business operations and activities to another level.
Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner are the two international projects in the same field that can impart the required level of management knowledge to Lisanne and her team. There were many correct and incorrect activities that were carried out in these two projects which can act as a good source of reference for the project that will be carried out at MAC.
The report includes the positive and negative aspects associated with the two projects and also includes the key learning that may be adapted by MAC.
Airbus is a company that was found in the year 1970 with the major objectives as integration of existing European aircraft sites for establishing advanced and modern manufacturing and production capabilities. Currently, there are over 57,000 employees that are engaged with Airbus.
Airbus A380 is one of the large scale projects that was undertaken by the company and was initiated in the year 2000. The aim of the project was to design a super-jumbo jet capable of carrying 853 passengers and crew. The launch date of the project was set up in 2002 (Bbc, 2012).
At the same time, it was decided that an administrative re-structuring would be carried out at the company which would include the re-location of the top management from different sites at a common site. It was aimed that such a process would result in minimization of conflicts and would lead to adequate and effective management as a result (Rochfort, 2006).
In 2005, there were a number of production issues that began to crop up. This led to the inability to meet the delivery deadlines and the French and German production facilities started the blame game instead of the resolution of the issue. In the year 2006, wiring harness produced in Hamburg plant failed to install while the plane was in the assembly stage in the Toulouse plant.
CATIA is a software which is commonly used in the aircraft industry and it was found out that an older version of the software was used in the Hamburg plant. However, the latest version was used in the Toulouse plant. This led to the compatibility issues which led to the failure in the installation process. As a result, the deliveries were postponed and it became necessary to design the wiring system. This led to the delay of two years and the cost also exceeded by 6 billion dollars.
It is assumed that the primary reason behind the failure was the software compatibility issues. However, there were a number of problems and mistakes that were carried out by the project management team that contributed as the prime reason of failure of the project (Dorfler & Baumann, 2014).
There are certain project management phases and guidelines that are required to be followed in each of the projects. The relevance of such guidelines and characteristics increases with the nature of the project. For instance, in case of Airbus A380, it was an international project with a lot of significance. The following characteristics were required to be maintained in the project which went missing.
Also, the software compatibility issues that were encountered could have been detected earlier in the project execution and project control stages. Software testing is an essential activity that is required to be carried out and the effective monitoring and control from the project managers could have also made sure that the issue was detected in a timely manner.
Boeing is an American multi-national organization that deals in the designing, manufacturing and production of airplanes, rockers and satellites. The company has over 160,000 employees engaged with it.
Boeing began the development of 787 Dreamliner in the year 2003; however, the project suffered from numerous project failures and risks in the areas of schedule and budget overrun.
The estimated cost of the project was USD 5 billion which exceeded to over USD 17-23 billion (Elahi, Sheikhzadeh & Lamba, 2012).
There were numerous reasons that contributed in the failure of the project. The technical experts advised the project team to stick to the traditional methods of manufacturing and design. However, in an attempt to bring down the costs, the company decided to outsource many of the project tasks. This went against the project and led to the budget overrun (Mseitif, 2014).
The overall management that was applied in the project was also not adequate. There are primarily two lessons that can be learnt from the case study of Boeing Dreamliner.
Project Management is one of the most significant and necessary activities that are required to be carried out in case of project. The significance of adequate project management further increases in international projects and activities.
There are five phases that are included in any of the project management methodologies that is applied.
These phases are as listed below.
The above five phases shall be included by Lisanne and her team in the growth ambition project that will be carried out at MAC. There were a number of pitfalls that were associated with Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. These pitfalls and drawbacks can be avoided by sticking to the best practices and including the following key learning in the project activities that are carried out.
Conclusion
There can be a number of success and failure reasons that may be associated with the projects. In case of international projects, it becomes essential to make sure that the project success is achieved by sticking to the set of best practices and standards. Also, project management is a discipline that must be followed in the projects to ensure that the success is ensured. Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner are the two international projects in the field of aircrafts that can impart the required level of management knowledge to similar large scale international projects. There were many correct and incorrect activities that were carried out in these two projects which can act as a good source of reference.
Murasaki Aircraft Corporation (MAC) is a company that is currently producing regional jets and Lisanne, the CEO of MAC is now aspiring to expand the business. The next set of business activities would include medium sized passenger jets which would enhance the business operations and activities to another level. The project must stick to the five phases of the project management process which include initiation, planning, execution, control and closure phases. Project planning, risk assessment and management, setting up of realistic project expectations, adequate resource selection and allocation along with effective monitoring and control shall be followed in the project. The role of senior management along with the Project Manager also holds a critical importance in the case of such projects.
Reference
Amalraj, J. (2007). Project Management: Challenges & Lessons Learned. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.beg.utexas.edu/energyecon/ua_2007/AB_Project_Mgt_challenges.pdf
Bbc. (2012). Factfile: Airbus A380. BBC News. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11693164
Dorfler, I., & Baumann, O. (2014). Learning from a Drastic Failure: The Case of the Airbus A380 Program. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13662716.2014.910891
Elahi, E., Sheikhzadeh, M., & Lamba, N. (2012). “An Integrated Outsourcing Framework: Analyzing Boeing’s Outsourcing Program for Dreamliner (B787). Scholarworks.umb.edu. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://scholarworks.umb.edu/msis_faculty_pubs/26/
Mseitif, J. (2014). Boeing’s Behavior in a Liberalized Marketplace: The 787 Dreamliner Project and Impact on Puget Sound Workers. Digital.lib.washington.edu. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/26912/Mseitif_washington_0250O_13381.pdf;sequence=1
Newton, P. (2015). Principles of Project Management. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.free-management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-project-principles.pdf
Rochfort, S. (2006). Delay issues cloud A380 visit – Business – Business – smh.com.au. Smh.com.au. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.smh.com.au/news/business/delay-issues-cloud-a380-visit/2006/11/28/1164476179330.html
Shariff, S. (2013). Assessment of Project Management Skills and Learning Outcomes in Students’ Projects. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813020363/pdf?md5=16f498b0203d44eb0bb95f5b83d90b6f&pid=1-s2.0-S1877042813020363-main.pdf
Shore, B. (2009). Airbus A380 – Project Failure Lessons Learned. Globalprojectstrategy.com. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://globalprojectstrategy.com/lessons/case.php?id=23
Tang, C., & Zimmerman, J. (2009). Managing New Product Development and Supply Chain Risks: The Boeing 787 Case. Retrieved 30 October 2017, from https://eng.umd.edu/~austin/ense622.d/lecture-resources/Boeing787-Outsourcing2009.pdf
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