International Project Management: Airbus A380/787 Dreamliner

This report focuses on the international project management strategies adopted by Airbus for the construction and deployment of the largest plane ever, Airbus A380/787 Dreamliner. It analyzes the lessons learnt from the project and provides recommendations on how the MAC project can benefit from them.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT: AIRBUS A380/787 DREAMLINER
International Project Management
Airbus A380/787 Dreamliner
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT: AIRBUS A380/787 DREAMLINER
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of lessons learnt from the Airbus A380 & 787 Dreamliner project............................3
Recommendation on how the MAC project can be benefit.......................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Aviation industry has been always challenging for the great airline companies
including the giant and the small companies. This report will be emphasizing on the two
major companies of the aviation industry including Boeing and Airbus and how both
operated while being in a race of competition. International project management can be
defined as the Certified International Project Manager certification degree is planned for job
supervisors that intend to get verification of their understanding of international job
monitoring (Kerzner and Kerzner 2017). Boeing was the leading organization in the aviation
industry that was the voice behind all the operations and ways of working among the
different small and medium sized industries. It was statement that “When Boeing says every
airline company in the aviation industry listens.” However, Airbus had to survive and had to
take the top position among the various aviation industries. An innovation was introduced to
build the largest cargo and commercial flights those can carry much higher loads and
passengers as compared to any of the airline company. Boeing had the asset 787 that was the
largest available cargo and commercial flight and it was the biggest competitor for the Airbus
(Nicholas and Steyn 2017). Airbus implemented innovation through introducing the biggest
ever living flies those can carry much heavier load than the Boeing 787.
The accomplishment of such a vast project and plane will need certain management
and delivery of the operational activities among the different areas. There were various
constraints those needed to be considered by the Airbus while building such a large plane
including strength, material, human efforts, designing and the expertise from different
backgrounds those could allow the accomplishment of such a vast project (Harrison and Lock
2017). The Airbus setup a network of the different official places from where it was operating
the construction and the design for the plane. It was being managed internationally as no
doubt, outsourcing can be cost effective and far beneficial for the effective and efficient

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delivery and management of the operational activities required for the successful delivery of
the project (Binder 2016).
The purpose of this report is to explain the various international project management
strategies those could have been adopted by the Airbus for the management and delivery of
the construction and deployment of the largest plane ever.
Background
The Boeing was the giant and most emphasizing company in the aviation industry and
airbus was the one who wanted to clash and become the first in the race of the aviation
industry. The Airbus had to come with a product or service that can be helpful and efficient in
becoming the rank 1 among the different airline companies those are already present in the
industry and providing the services to the consumers (Hornstein 2015). Airbus decided to
build and develop the largest fleet that can fly in air without any disturbance and could
possibly allow better profits for the company. The major issue was behind the development
of the biggest plane and keeping most of the constraints considering the aerodynamic model
and design of the plane along with the security, strength, and luxury for the consumers. The
development of the different parts of the plane needed to be built and assembled at five
different countries in manner to manage the expertise and the expenses (Serra and Kunc
2015). However, the project faces a very big loss while it was identified that the outsourcing
led to a very big issue in the components design and delivery and manufacturing the entire
plane.
Analysis of lessons learnt from the Airbus A380 & 787 Dreamliner project
Airbus A380
The uncertainties and technical problems due to outsourcing led to one-year delay in
the project with an over budget of about $2 billion throughout the project. Due to the various

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technical requirement regarding the delivery and management of the entire project. The
products were being outsourced considering the quick and fast delivery of the project
estimation in manner to make sure that the project is being delivered in an efficient way and
the introduction of the first largest plane can be introduced to the customers (Cha, Newman
and Winch 2018).
The outsourcing was being made considering meeting the demand of the products and
the components those were necessary for the development and building the largest plane. The
logistic was very crucial and the airbus decided to use the land ways, freights, and thereafter,
land too. However, the outsourcing was being managed by five of the different countries and
hence, the logistics was the major concern for the project delivery (International Project
Management Association 2015). The components of the plane were much bigger since, the
design of the plane was very big and hence, the outsourcing became the concerning factor.
The different work centers were using different systems and computer programming for the
development of the products. This led to various technical errors those led to the shortage in
the cabling fluctuation in the adjustment of the various components those were necessary for
the complete development of the entire plane. The management plays important role in the
delivery and management of the project.
It was observed that the five different warehouses or the work stations were being
hired for the construction and development of the components and parts of the plane. The
outsourcing was necessary considering the implementation of the strategies those could be
helpful and effective enough for the management of the budget of the project.
Thus, it was another crucial factor for the business that it is considerable to take an
approach that is best suited for the organization (Svejvig and Andersen 2015). Introduction of
the new approach is always opposed by the individuals however, the leader needs to be assure

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about adopting the strategy that will be far more beneficial regarding the overall development
and growth of the organization. As, Jean Pearson convinced all of the other key stakeholders
and the officials to be agree on the execution of the idea being proposed for the successful
run of the company.
On the other hand, it was also identified that the lack of communication between the
different branches led to the chaos and alternative destruction in the different technical
sectors those could have been better if it was communicated in an effective and efficient
manner. There were five different locations among which the outsourcing was being
delivered considering the establishment of the biggest flight ever (Denning 2015). That was
the biggest failure in the successful delivery of the international project and hence, led to the
severe damage during the production for the Airbus industry. Lack of communication or
communication gap allowed them to utilize the computer programs and the programming of
their interest causing shortage of the cables those have stopped the work from its successful
delivery. Various customers such as Fedex and UOS had already made the booking for the
biggest flight made ever and the total cost for the delivery was of $20 billion.
There was heavy loose in the circuit development as the developed cables were not
very effective and efficient to be efficiently connected within the entire body of the plane
(Elahi, Sheikhzadeh and Lamba 2014). Now, the major concerning sector for this approach
was the establishment of the successful project.
787 Dreamliner Project
787 adopted outsourcing in manner to enhance the existing features of the planes and
allow consumers to have the best benefitted and satisfied services in along with the better
profits and cost-cutting. However, it was a riskier approach for the Dreamliner to implement
the modifications and the innovations within the planes for better benefits and increase the

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mark of the satisfaction level of the consumers. The new technologies such as carbon fiber,
DC batteries and others were adopted by Boeing in manner to be light weighted and
consuming less fuel (Turner 2017). This cutting can also be helpful in introducing better fare
prices for the consumers without altering their benefits. Boeing had the monopoly in the
industry with superjumbo planes as it was the only organization who was preparing so large
panes and so, it made announcement stating that there is no need of the SuperJumbo planes as
these could be costlier than other flying ways. Even, though it was a good strategic approach
against the competitor, they stopped building the new project that was supposed to be
developed even bigger than that of 787. Negligence was another risk that dragged the Boeing
sink and lose the market.
Recommendation on how the MAC project can be benefit
It was necessary to manage the outsourcing despite of having so many troubles and
problems those led to the delay in the delivery of the first testing plane. Moving forward,
Airbus was estimated to build the planes in large amount despite of the announcement made
by the Boeing stating that there is no need of superjumbo jets. They provided their comment
that the super jumbo projects can be costlier for the customers as they will need to travel the
single route for a certain distance and thereafter, they will have to be on another flight for
their proper destination (Todorović et al. 2015). Jaen Pearson was the chief executive of the
Airbus and he was ready to take the bold risk that could have either lead to the failure or
towards the success for the Airbus.
Thus, the adoption of such a drastic situation was crucial and concerning for all the
five branches of the Airbus in manner to allow the adoption of the strategy “development of
the largest commercial and cargo flight that can bear 30% heavier load as compared to that of
the 787.” It was also identified that communication is one of the major aspect for assuring
that all the major stakeholders get agree on the same concept and allow the development of

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the largest fleet that can allow Airbus to be at the top of the competitive world in the aviation
industry (Mir and Pinnington 2014).
It can be recommended that the outsourcing is far beneficial for the organization in
manner to manage the ongoing project. The resources being used for the information and data
management should be same. It was identified that the major cause behind such a big failure
was the utilization of different computer programs at the different places from where the
outsourcing were done.
Following are some of the recommendation regarding the risks in such international
project and outsourcing project:
 Final make-buy decisions should be made after completing all the engineering related
work (Shenhar 2016)
 Deploying committed, competent, and knowledgeable at all the levels, especially the
project management and C-suit.
 Development of the integrity and trust relationships on long-terms basis with key
suppliers
 Outsourced manufacturing must go under quality check considering coordination and
quality of the deliveries
Moreover, the organizations outsourcing the manufacturing should have proper and
cost effective plan in advance in manner to manage the operational activities and assuring
that the entire outsourcing delivers in an efficient and effective way. Offshoring needs to
be envisaged in manner to make sure that the innovation being introduced is capable and
efficient enough for the expected deliveries and assuring that the organization will be
meeting the necessary goals and achievements.

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that the international project can be very risky for the organization
in manner to deliver the expected product and services to the end users and assuring their
satisfaction level to be very high. The above report explained the different approaches those
had been adopted by the Airbus for managing and delivering the expected deliveries for the
users. It was a very vast project and most of the strategies came as a failure for the Airbus
however, the company raises again and delivered the expected output for the users.
International project should must be monitored and evaluated regularly throughout the project
lifecycle with an assurance of the successful and efficient delivery of the expected output.

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References
Binder, J., 2016. Global project management: communication, collaboration and
management across borders. Routledge.
Cha, J., Newman, M. and Winch, G., 2018. Revisiting the project management
knowledge framework: Rebalancing the framework to include transformation
projects. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 11(4), pp.1026-1043.
Denning, S., 2015. What went wrong at Boeing? Forbes. com.
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), pp.13-28.
Harrison, F. and Lock, D., 2017. Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Hornstein, H.A., 2015. The integration of project management and organizational change
management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2),
pp.291-298.
International Project Management Association, 2015. Individual Competence Baseline for
Project. Programme & Portfolio Management,.
Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to
planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Mir, F.A. and Pinnington, A.H., 2014. Exploring the value of project management:
linking project management performance and project success. International journal of
project management, 32(2), pp.202-217.

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Nicholas, J.M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Serra, C.E.M. and Kunc, M., 2015. Benefits realisation management and its influence on
project success and on the execution of business strategies. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(1), pp.53-66.
Svejvig, P. and Andersen, P., 2015. Rethinking project management: A structured
literature review with a critical look at the brave new world. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(2), pp.278-290.
Todorović, M.L., Petrović, D.Č., Mihić, M.M., Obradović, V.L. and Bushuyev, S.D.,
2015. Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project
management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.772-783.
Turner, J.R., 2017. Contracting for project management. Routledge.