Operations Management for Boeing and Airbus: A Comparative Study

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Module Title: Operations Management
Module Code: GM702
Student Name:
University Name:

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Table of Contents
Assignment Task 1: Project Report.................................................................................................2
1. Executive Summary.................................................................................................................2
2. Introduction to the chosen organizations.................................................................................3
2.1 Introduction to Boeing.......................................................................................................3
2.2 Introduction to Airbus........................................................................................................3
3. Aspects of Operations Management for Airbus and Boeing...................................................4
3.1 Operations Management in Boeing...................................................................................4
3.2 Operations Management in Airbus....................................................................................5
3.3 Differences in aspects of operations management for Airbus and Boeing........................6
4. Need for any suitable change in the operations plan of Boeing..............................................7
5. Operations strategy for solving problems in Boeing 787 Dreamliner project.........................9
6. Evaluation of the supply chain management practices..........................................................11
7. Project management approach to ensure Boeing completes the defects on time..................13
8. Critical analysis of the tools used by Boeing and Airbus......................................................15
9. Role of IT in Boeing and Airbus...........................................................................................17
10. Conclusions and recommendations.....................................................................................18
10.1 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................18
10.2 Recommendations..........................................................................................................18
Assignment Task 2: Project Management using PERT and CPM................................................20
1. Project network diagram........................................................................................................20
2. Schedule for the whole project..............................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................22

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Assignment Task 1: Project Report
1. Executive Summary
This report is focused on analysis of Boeing and Airbus to evaluate the operational issues
faced in Boeing 787 Dreamliner project by comparing it with Airbus A380 project. The
discussions are also provided on the operations method followed by Boeing and how application
of operations management will help to eliminate the issues. The focus of this report is mainly on
the organizations Boeing and Airbus as they are considered as the leading manufacturers of
Aircrafts. The discussion are provided to evaluate operations within Airbus and Boeing in
context to different aspects that is time, total quality management.
First section of this report illustrates on the background of both organizations that is
Airbus and Boeing after that the detailed description is provided on the aspects of operations
management within the organizations. This report also illustrates on required changes within
Boeing’s operational plan to present that there is a requirement to apply suitable operations
strategy such that the identified issues in Boeing 787 Dreamliner project can be resolved. The
evaluation is also carried out to present the current practices of supply chain management and the
project plan has been provided so that Boeing could complete the defects in time. This study also
demonstrates the tools that are being used by Boeing and Airbus along with the role played by IT
in both the organizations. Finally, conclusions have been drawn to the study in last section and
some suggestions have been provided to improve the operations of Boeing.

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2. Introduction to the chosen organizations
2.1 Introduction to Boeing
The history of the Boeing dates back to almost 100 years which was being founded in the
year 1916 by William E. Boeing for manufacturing seaplanes. Later on, after almost 25 years, a
revolutionary plane Boeing 247 was introduced which is considered as the first modern airliner.
The planes were operated by Boeing for commercial purposes and during the Second World
War, it focused on producing aircrafts for the military operations (Mocenco 2015). In the year
1958, Boeing first introduced the 7x7 series aircraft and from that time only, it has been
following that particular production line. Till that time, Boeing is one of the pioneers in the field
of manufacturing, designing and selling of aircrafts. The company also provides product services
facility to the customers. Boeing operates globally as the largest producer of aircrafts and
according to the revenue collection of 2013, it is the second largest contractor of defence projects
in the world and also considered as top listed exporters of United States (Sun, Zhao and Zhang
2015). There are five primary divisions of Boeing that are divided into Boeing Capital, Shared
Services along with Commercial Airplanes. It has been found that in 2015, the organization had
a record sales of $96.11 billion. However, the “Boeing 787 Dreamliner” project was a failure in
their history due to certain operational issues within the organization.
2.2 Introduction to Airbus
Airbus is an association that was being founded to give tough competition to the
American manufacturers of aircrafts. The origin of this company dates back to 1960 when it was
formed as a joint initiative amid France, Germany and United Kingdom (Kappel 2017). The
company was put into existence by consolidation of different aerospace companies with the
European defence. Required materials were being delivered by firms from each countries and the

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first model “A300” aircraft was designed by Airbus. It did not gain much popularity but there
was a gradual increase in the number of received orders with the development of modernized
versions. The present day renowned aircraft A380 was being born in the year 2005 after long
phase of development and it is considered as the largest available commercial airliner (Vasigh
and Fleming 2016). The first plane was delivered to Singapore Airlines that flew in 15 October
of 2007 from Singapore to Sydney. At present, Airbus has 138000 employees at sixteen different
sites in various countries and it has spread the wings to manufacture and deliver commercially
feasible A380 airliner. In the year 2014, Airbus has achieved over 96 billion euros as revenue
and it is now considered to be first company for manufacturing of aircrafts and helicopters
throughout the world.
3. Aspects of Operations Management for Airbus and Boeing
3.1 Operations Management in Boeing
In the field of aircraft manufacturing, Boeing has made its mark in the oldest companies
list that provides large number of aircrafts to different airline organizations throughout the world.
The main focus of Boeing is on satisfaction of customers such that they feel comfortable during
their flight. They have brought about various changes after losing major market share due to the
tough competition given by Airbus (Albers et al. 2017). However, they did not back out from the
competition or reduce price of their products instead they planned for implementing changes in
their business. The operations management within the company is divided into different parts so
that they can achieve operational excellence and desired results from manufacturing aircrafts.
Boeing formulated and implemented right systems of production as well as marketing strategies
for their major commercial aircraft.

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Boeing faced tough competition to maintain their position in the market and hence they
decided to design the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for enhancing the travelling experience of
passengers. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner project was designed to fulfill various purposes such
that fuel efficiency can be increased by 20% with 300 passenger capacity (Sun, Zhao and Zhang
2015). They used the JIT (Just in Time) approach to reduce the wastage as well as limiting the
costs associated with inventory. They ordered specific required parts from different places and
used them at the same time so that there is no wastage during production or waiting time
required for inventory. But, Boeing did not followed the practice of total quality management
while developing the 787 Dreamliner aircraft as the battery was made of lithium so it was a
major risk as it may explode while the aircraft is on board (Vasigh and Fleming 2016). Further,
there was communication gap between the workers, engineers along with the executives which
caused delay in production and delivery to the customers.
3.2 Operations Management in Airbus
The concept of operations management in Airbus is somewhat different to that of Boeing
as they have researched rigorously so that latest scientific technology as well as engineering
techniques can be applied effectively for manufacturing models of aircrafts (Cook and Billig
2017). They have also given focus on demands of the customers as well as the business needs.
They have designed the aircrafts so that those are customer friendly with low production cost
hence exhibiting a high cost efficiency ratio. The main target of Airbus is to enhance their
business by keeping up or improving the desired quality (Vieira and Loures 2016). This policy
helped them to gain reputation in the past and therefore beaten Boeing in context to cost as well
as quality. Most airline companies throughout the world had joined with Airbus rather than