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by tici_88 3353 days ago
The article mentions 'increased competition'. Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus? Are Boeing's latest planes less competitive or is there less orders in the pipeline all across the industry, including at Airbus? I wish the article went into more detail here, this would have been informative.
2 comments
dingaling 3353 days ago
> Is Boeing facing a hard time competing against rivals say Airbus?

Airbus is on a strong run at the moment.

However what I think 'competition' means in this sense is design and construction competition within Boeing. The 787 was a $30 billion lesson to Boeing on how to globalise aircraft design and production. They made a mess of it, at least on the initial -8 model, but as a result seem to have learned how to work with global risk-sharing partners; partners who employ their own engineers at their own cost and who design components ( wings, fuselages etc ) at their own cost and risk to a specification provided by Boeing. Much like engine manufacturers already do.

And as a result Boeing can also move towards a final-assembly-only paradigm, which further reduces workforce requirements.

Smaller companies like Bombardier have already had to make those changes in order to survive and Boeing is being proactive in following them.

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marsRoverDev 3352 days ago
Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang. A350 program starts, Airbus hires thousands of contract mech engineers. A350 program winds down, those people are let go. I think that Boeing is similar.

Lay-offs do not necessarily imply 'increased competition', I think that hasn't changed a whole lot recently. The model is just moving towards highly contractual work with limited managerial permanent roles for the cream of the crop.

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sigstoat 3352 days ago
> Unfortunately, hiring for aircraft programs these days is very Bang-Bang.

i'm given to understand that's pretty common across all of aerospace. get contract, hire, finish contract, fire. it makes for an endless supply of headlines, but isn't actually a surprise to the employees.

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