Boeing's Supply Chain Management Headache

Boeing began building the much hyped Boeing 787, a large innovative aircraft built of carbon composites rather than aluminum approximately seven years ago. The company outsourced heavily, as is common in this technology enabled age, but they carried it to an extreme. This led to a whole new world of supply chain management, in which outsourced suppliers were vying for difficult-to-obtain parts and supplies, which the suppliers found hard to provide because of the erratic and unplanned nature of the buying. Eventually Boeing had to take over some of the buying so a reliable supply of parts could be ensured. Boeing's experience with the 787 is a case study in Supply Chain Management in an outsourced environment, and carries some important lessons for other companies. For a good report on the building of the 787, see this article in Technology Review.