Boeing 787 program flying smoothly with Exostar collaboration engine
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
In preparation for delivering its next-generation commercial aircraft—the 787 Dreamliner—Boeing adopted a new business model. For the first time in its history, the Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer is asking supply chain partners to build large portions of an aircraft rather than simply supplying parts.
The partners will deliver full sections of the 787 to Boeing's primary production facility in Everett, Wash., where the final aircraft will be assembled and tested.
“This new way of doing business greatly reduces opportunity for error by minimizing inventory and handling in the supply chain, which allows us to offer a better final product,” explains Tim Opitz, director of product operations and support for the 787, which is scheduled to take its first flight in 2008.
To make sure this new business model works properly, Boeing turned to Exostar for help in connecting all the supply chain partners to a single collaborative network. Exostar, founded as a trading exchange for the aerospace & defense industries, has since evolved into a supplier of solutions and services for effective supply chain collaboration.
For the 787 project, Boeing is relying on Exostar's Supply Chain Management solution. This package, powered by software from E2Open, is helping Boeing manage everything from outgoing supplier orders and payments to the flow of inventory through the supply chain.
That last bit of functionality—the ability to manage processes that encompass multiple tiers of a supply chain—was one reason Boeing chose Exostar to support the 787 program.
“Because they have chosen some key partners to manufacture these very large pieces of the end product, all of a sudden 50 to 70 suppliers that used to supply directly to Boeing are now supplying to those key top-tier partners,” explains Peter Scott, VP of corporate development at Exostar.
While Boeing's primary contact is with top-tier suppliers—communicating new schedules, changes in priority, and shifts in tactics related to product delivery—Scott says there is a continuing need for Boeing to have visibility into all tiers of the supply chain. “If a Tier 2 supplier has not shipped a product on time to the Tier 1, that's not necessarily Boeing's problem immediately,” Scott says. “But it is a potential problem two weeks from now.”
With the Exostar solution in place, alerts about a late delivery would initially be sent to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier. If the situation is not resolved in a certain amount of time, however, Boeing would be alerted.
“Because all the Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers are on a common platform, we can provide the appropriate views into the information that they need—and no one sees things they shouldn't see,” Scott says.
While conceding that the implementation of this new process isn't without its challenges, Opitz says that so far, Boeing is on track.
“This year we will accomplish some major milestones,” says Opitz. “Final assembly will start early this year, and we'll roll the first 787 out of the factory midyear. The first flight will happen shortly after that, followed by our flight-test program. It's going to be a very exciting year for the 787 program, and the Boeing Company as a whole.”
