When I arrived as an immigrant from the UK in 1973, one of my earliest memories was listening to Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair ‘s commentary on the US. The economy was in a shambles and the dollar was being hammered on foreign exchange markets. The consensus was that the US was finished, it took Gordon Sinclair to remind his listeners of all the incredible things the US has accomplished.
We need the same reminder for The Boeing Company. Boeing is by far the largest US exporter, vital to the US economy and our defense. However, the Boeing Company is in need of a genuine renaissance.
When you go back to 1969, the clouds were so dark for the Boeing company that their very survival was in question and a real estate agent at the time put up a billboard on a freeway outside Seattle saying “Would the last person leaving Seattle switch out the lights “
By some miracle deep in the bowels of the Boeing company was a phoenix that was going to emerge from the ashes. The 747 team was actually the JV (junior varsity) team, just like the University of Washington husky rowing team in boys on the boat. In both were JV teams that won the gold medal.
The senior team at Boeing was working on the SST, the new supersonic jet that was being financed by the federal government until it suddenly it wasn’t. Iconic names like Joe Sutter, Malcolm Stamper and Bill Allen lead a team that built the 747 in less than 36 months. The 747 was more than twice the size of any commercial airplane that existed at that time and was designed and manufactured with slide rules and drawing boards.
Joe Sutter’s team were called the “Incredibles”.
What Boeing needs to do today is to reassemble the Incredibles and if challenged in the same way Joe Sutter challenged his team, they could deliver aircraft that would eclipse the Airbus 320 series (basically a 40-year-old design). With the same leadership and energy that Joe Sutter provided two brand new planes could be built in 36 months
One plane needs to be a replacement for the 737 max (130-200 passengers) and the other needs to be a mid-market airplane (200-300 passengers). Both planes need to utilize the same cockpit and flight control layout as the 787. Utilizing similar cockpits goes back to the success of the interoperability of the 757 and 767. Both planes need to utilize the most advanced technology in materials, fuel efficiency and be designed to be quick and easy to assemble.
Like the 747 they would need a brand-new facility with all the major suppliers having facilities close by as a requirement to be a partner on the new planes. Everyone would need to use the same computer systems and have the ability to monitor quality in real time down to the smallest detail of the plane.
The plane needs to be wider than the 737 fuselage designed 60 years ago to accommodate passengers that weighed on average 140 pounds. The new plane would have the most advanced fly by wire and not cables and new composite wings. Maybe even incorporating the folding wings perfected on the 777–9.
New engines and a lighter aircraft would produce significantly reduced emissions and would help with the overall reduction of global emissions.
All of this is a big ask but when John Kennedy challenged the country to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, everyone coalesced and as a country we achieved something that 55 years later no other country has even attempted to do.
Landing on the moon required unbelievable teamwork and creativity. new materials had to be invented, computers had to be created to complete complex tasks.
The new leader of the Incredibles will need to have Elon Musk’s mentality to challenge why every component in the aircraft costs what it costs and mirror the cost reductions that he accomplished with the raptor engines. This process with an entire aircraft and an engine could reduce the cost of a new plane by 40%.
Boeing has done it before, and they must become dreamers again. Motivation and dreaming is what galvanizes the human spirit and what is needed for the soul. Being involved in something that is bigger than yourself and knowing you played a part in its creation has been a motivator since before the pyramids were built.
One of the frequently used maxims used in business is the customer is always right. Unfortunately, this can seduce a company into doing something out of expediency and not something truly visionary. Part of the tail wagging the dog scenario happened to Boeing because a few very large low-cost airlines wanted the new version of the 737 to use the same type rating as the existing 737 to save on pilot training costs.
So instead of leapfrogging ahead of Airbus with a brand-new plane, Boeing ended up with an enhanced sixty year old design with new engines.
A new aerospace village needs to be built with employees from inside Boeing and around the world. The pay for the front-line workers needs to be significantly above the current pay to attract the best and the brightest.
The new facility needs to be run as an independent division with its own board of directors (preferably dominated by aerospace engineers) so legacy practices are not just transferred to the new facility. It never works putting new wine into old bottles.
For a vision of what the future Boeing would look like, watch the employees at Space X when they complete a successful launch. Throngs of ecstatic young people marveling at what they have accomplished.
Mike Dunlop has lived in Seattle for 50 years arriving from the UK in 1973. He has been passionate about airplanes since his first flight on a Vickers Viscount in 1955 at the age of 7. He has worked in Aerospace for 45 years and built a number of aerospace component manufacturing companies both in Europe and the US as well as designing and founding Net-Inspect the most widely used aerospace quality management system worldwide. His new book “The Art of the Turnaround“ 10 steps to bring enjoyment and profitability back to your company will be published later this year.
