Boeing, oops.

[david_mcmanus]

[TJ_98370]

[david_mcmanus]

[TJ_98370]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[deejayoh]

[The Tim]

Yes, you are correct. The big "unveiling" on 7/8/7 was nothing more than a pretty airplane shell. It had no wiring, seats, or pretty much anything inside. They didn't even have the seats on hand. They've been having issues with multiple suppliers delivering the wrong parts, or simply not delivering at all. To the people actually involved in the project, the alleged delivery dates that were stated in the past were merely a joke, as they knew there was no way they would be met.

I know all of this through one of those "friend of a friend" type of things, where the original source (2 degrees from me) is actually on the 787 development team. I haven't heard a recent update on how they're feeling about the project lately (in the last few months). From my personal experience in the manufacturing world, I can confirm that the way these things (new product releases) tend to work is that management / marketing sets the completion dates with little to no input from engineering (you know, the people actually designing the dang thing). As the unrealistic deadline approaches, the project can go one of two directions:

Timeline A
1) Product is released (Revision A) at the marketing-selected date, even though it's half-baked.
2) Anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred are sold.
3) Customers experience problems, issues get escalated.
4) Eventually it falls back on engineering, who is maybe finally given adequate time to actually complete the project.
5) Revision B is released months to years after the Rev. A release. Rev. B has the features and reliability that Rev. A should have had.

Timeline B
1) Delay
2) Delay
3) Delay
...
#) Finally release when the project is actually done and vetted.

Due to the safety-critical nature of what Boeing does, it looks like things over there follow Timeline B. The problem of course, is that they've cooked all of their books based on the pie-in-the-sky timelines that Marketing and Management dreamed up, without bothering to consult the people that actually do the work to get things done.

[david_mcmanus]

Yeah, Tim, you're right about that. When I was a development lead on a 20 person team a few years ago, I would get the estimates from my team on how long it would take to develop a certain product. I'd go back to management and let them how long it would take. They would always just set their own dates, so it got to the point where whenever they would ask me how long it would take, I would just cut out the BS and ask management to give me a date. I didn't even bother giving them estimates anymore, it wasn't worth fighting. Then scenario B would play out, delay, delay, delay, deliver about 6 months to a year late. All because somebody in marketing thought that a project with a year worth of work should take a month. My favorite was when they kept adding team members thinking that it would reduce the amount of time.

[deejayoh]

[TJ_98370]

[david_mcmanus]

Another delay pending. Hope the workers have a lot of money stashed away, and not in their homes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... ng787.html

[perfectfire]

I saw some news in the morning about the military buying Airbus planes instead of Boeing. Ah here it is: .

[david_mcmanus]

Perhaps they should worry more about the 787 and less about their stupid "protest" that they won't win.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... ing12.html

[WestSideBilly]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

If Boeing wins the protest, don't be surprised to see another new competition. When the original Boeing contract was contested, that's what happened, so it's not like there is no precedent (on this contract even).