Imagine for a moment that you\'re launching one of the most important products in your company\'s history. You plan to spend more than $8 billion to develop it, and it will take five years to design, test, and launch. In a universe of high-pressure projects, this one is about as intense as they come. Now imagine this: In order to meet aggressive deadlines, stay within your tight budget, and meet your strict quality-control requirements, your company has decided to let your suppliers design many of the product\'s most critical components.
Sound crazy? Not if you\'re Boeing, the leading U.S. manufacturer of commercial aircraft. In recent years, American aerospace know-how has migrated to international competitors; in 2003, Boeing lost its position as the global sales leader to Airbus, a European consortium. Yet instead of trying to compete with foreign expertise, Boeing decided to harness it by inviting 100 global suppliers to collaborate on the design, engineering, and......
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