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The article mentions 'increased competition'. Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus? Are Boeing's latest planes less competitive or i

The article mentions 'increased competition'. Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus? Are Boeing's latest planes less competitive or is there less orders in the pipeline all across the industry, including at Airbus? I wish the article went into more detail here, this would have been informative.

dingaling 9y ago
> Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus? Airbus is on a strong run at the moment. However what I think 'competition' means in this sense is design and construction competition within Boeing. The 787 was a $30 billion lesson to Boeing on how to globalise aircraft design and production. They made a mess of it, at least on the initial -8 model, but as a result seem to have learned how to work with global risk-sharing partners; partners who employ their own engineers at their own cost and who design components ( wings, fuselages etc ) at their own cost and risk to a specification provided by Boeing. Much like engine manufacturers already do. And as a result Boeing can also move towards a final-assembly-only paradigm, which further reduces workforce requirements. Smaller companies like Bombardier have already had to make those changes in order to survive and Boeing is being proactive in following them.
marsRoverDev 9y ago
Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang. A350 program starts, Airbus hires thousands of contract mech engineers. A350 program winds down, those people are let go. I think that Boeing is similar. Lay-offs do not necessarily imply 'increased competition', I think that hasn't changed a whole lot recently. The model is just moving towards highly contractual work with limited managerial permanent roles for the cream of the crop.
- sigstoat 9y ago
  > Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang. i'm given to understand that's pretty common across all of aerospace. get contract, hire, finish contract, fire. it makes for an endless supply of headlines, but isn't actually a surprise to the employees.

dingaling 9y ago

> Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus? Airbus is on a strong run at the moment. However what I think 'competition' means in this sense is design and construction competition within Boeing. The 787 was a $30 billion lesson to Boeing on how to globalise aircraft design and production. They made a mess of it, at least on the initial -8 model, but as a result seem to have learned how to work with global risk-sharing partners; partners who employ their own engineers at their own cost and who design components ( wings, fuselages etc ) at their own cost and risk to a specification provided by Boeing. Much like engine manufacturers already do. And as a result Boeing can also move towards a final-assembly-only paradigm, which further reduces workforce requirements. Smaller companies like Bombardier have already had to make those changes in order to survive and Boeing is being proactive in following them.

marsRoverDev 9y ago

Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang. A350 program starts, Airbus hires thousands of contract mech engineers. A350 program winds down, those people are let go. I think that Boeing is similar. Lay-offs do not necessarily imply 'increased competition', I think that hasn't changed a whole lot recently. The model is just moving towards highly contractual work with limited managerial permanent roles for the cream of the crop.

sigstoat 9y ago
> Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang. i'm given to understand that's pretty common across all of aerospace. get contract, hire, finish contract, fire. it makes for an endless supply of headlines, but isn't actually a surprise to the employees.