Project Overview
Murasaki Aircraft Corporation (MAC) is a company that has its headquarters in Japan. The organization supplies wings and regional jets for Boeing’s 787 aircraft. There is a lot of development that is happening in the aviation and aerospace industry. Owing to these advancements, MAC is now targeting the launch of lightweight aircrafts designed using latest technology. The company has analyzed the projects done by Boeing and Airbus A380 and it is necessary that the mistakes that occurred in these projects are not repeated by MAC. The report covers the lessons acquired from the case studies along with the recommendations on the strategies to be adopted.
MAC is the major project stakeholder that will be held accountable for the successful outcomes or the loopholes in the project. The company will be responsible for constructing the aircraft and will be a major player in the sales and production activities. Murasaki Heavy Industries (MHI) is the largest shareholder engaged with the company and currently has 64% of the total shares. The company will have a major say in the decisions taken for the project. The other shareholders include Mitsubishi Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation and both of these units have 10% shares each. They will be involved in the construction and production activities. Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corporation are the other stakeholders that will contribute by providing technical assistance, regional assistance, and support.
Overviee Of The Project
Airbus A380 came up in 2007 and the initial route covered by the aircraft was Singapore to Sydney. One year later, an additional route from Melbourne to Los Angeles was covered. The project succeeded in collaborating with some of the big players in the industry, such as Emirates, Air France, and Lufthansa. Emirates placed an order of 120 aircrafts soon after the launch of A380 and there were bulk orders received from Qatar Airways, Virgin Atlantic, etc. Due to sudden increase in the number of orders, there were issues that came up in the areas of delivery and production.
Airbus A380 claimed that it will have space for accommodating 35% more passengers and the fuel consumption will come down by 12%. The aircraft was a triple decker aircraft and first such aircrafts was being launched. The use of turbofan engine and lightweight construction technology made sure that the total cost was around $347m (£215m). It was also stated that there will be over 1400 passengers that will easily be accomodated (Bbc, 2012).
- Incompetence: There were numerous delays in the launch of the aircraft that could not be controlled by the management. There was reluctance to accept the delay and the efforts were being made in the incorrect direction that led to worsening of the situation.
- Non-Realistic Expectations: The initiation of the project took place in 2000 and the initial launch date was set in 2000. For a normal aircraft to launch, the minimum timeframe is of 5 years. In this case, triple decker flight was being launched for the first time. There were many newer areas and thus, the timelines were not realistic as per the requirements of the project (Freimuth, 2016).
- Communication & Management Conflicts: There were a large number of resources that were provided with the responsibility to accomplish the project tasks. A total of 16 such units were functional all across the globe. The teams needed to communicate effectively with each other and the strategy to ensure the same was of re-structuring and re-location. This led to ownership issues and increased disputes among the team members. There were also conflicts that emerged between the team of engineers and project management. The decision was announced by the management that 3D models will be used; however, the engineers remain stuck to the use of 2D models. The implication of the same was on the project outcomes. The use of software packages, such as Catia and Circe also witnessed resistance to change.
- Miscalculations: There were several miscalculations involved in the project. A team of 200 German mechanics were asked to install the aluminum and copper wires. However, the length of the wires was shorted than required which led to a six months delay.
- Design complexities: There was an involvement of more than 100,000 that had to perform more than 1,150 operations at one instance. There were other similar complexities that were involved. There was also difference in the software versions being used at the project plants, such as Hamburg and Toulouse plants were using different version of Catia.
The issues, such as design complexities, unwanted delays etc. came up early in the lifecycle; however, the organization did not want to accept the loopholes and made the efforts to mitigate the problem. The presence and use of inadequate approach led to a total delay of more than two years. It resulted in the loss of trust of the stakeholders and also affected the customer engagement. The overall project costs also went up. The requirements in the project were new which led to slow response in the market and the company received lesser than expected number of orders. The organization decided to implement cost-cutting strategy as a result.
- The projects are exposed to a variety of risks and threats that may be classified as technical risks, operational errors, security attacks, project management issue, resource issue, and likewise. It is assumed that the technical projects are only exposed to the technical risks and such assumptions are not true. The project management team must always prepare a risk management plan in advance so that suitable management strategies are implemented (Dorfler & Baumann, 2014).
- Communication is one of the prime requirements in the project and the employees must make sure that they maintain enhanced communication levels at all times. This will lead to a positive implication on the employee performance and productivity levels.
- It is necessary to make sure that the employee requirements are identified in advance and the steps are taken to meet the needs of the employees. There shall be requirements and needs assessment activities conducted (Shore, 2009).
- All the internal and external stakeholders must provide their comments in advance so that the requirements are designed accordingly. The requirements of every project stakeholder shall be considered and included in the project (Rochfort, 2006).
Key Stakeholders
Overview Of The Project
Boeing came up with Dreamliner 1 in 2003 and claimed that due to the use of latest technology and composite material, the aircraft will consume lesser fuel and it will also be extremely easy to maintain. Due to these claims and lesser costs, a total of 500 orders were received.
It is assumed that the project was commercially successful; however, the management theories state that the project failed since there was overrun of schedule and costs. The project got delayed by three tears and billions of dollars were exceeded as a result.
Major Factors Behind Failure & Analysis Of Key Issues
- Supply chain Problems: The aircraft did not demand the use of large number of fasteners and this led to the reluctance among the supplier groups to get engaged with the company. All of the suppliers were expecting larger orders which had an adverse implication on the level of their interest. This led to unwanted project delays (Tang & Zimmerman, 2009).
- Outsourcing Complexities: There was a lot of outsourcing that was involved in the project with the engagement of the supplier groups as Alenia Aeronautica, Spirit AeroSystems, etc. Boeing outsourced a major share of the functionalities to its primary suppliers. These primary suppliers further outsourced the functionalities to the other groups and such chains kept on increasing. This led to limited production and the 16% of the total share of delivery could be made possible by the end of phase one (Baker, 2013). There were several issues in the design and technique which led to the negative impact on costs, time, and resources (Elahi, Sheikhzadeh & Lamba, 2012).
- High Development Costs: There were several new functionalities that were involved in the project. This led to increase in the development costs which became extremely difficult to control. The company adopted the strategy of GSP model to deal with the same.
- Lack of competency: Every organization has certain strengths and weaknesses which shall be adequately utilized. The role system integrator was played by Boeing which was not its strength. There were many delays and overrun of schedule that was observed. The organization could not come up with the strategies to deal with such problems and could not resolve them in a timely manner. The involvement of design complexities and outsourcing structure also led to the emergence of too many problems (Mseitif, 2014).
There were several delays in the activities around construction of the aircraft along with the production tasks. This led to a negative implication on the project and the project budget got adversely impacted as a result. In order to deal with the issue, the organization made a decision to implement the GSP and cost-cutting models. The risk management process that was followed in the project was not as per the requirements and the unnecessary investments were made to enhance the operational speed of the project.
- In order to make sure that the resources perform as per the best of their abilities, it is necessary that they are provided with the adequate work environment and management support. The management must always allocate the project resources on the basis of their skills and must carry out initiatives such as employee trainings, one on one discussions etc. to motivate the resources (Denning, 2013).
- It is always advisable to make use of the in-house skills and resources before exploring the external sources. The outsourcing cycles and chains can be avoided by using in-house skills and competencies (Amalraj, 2007).
- The management must be involved in project control and monitoring and the strategies as project reviews, inspection cycles, walkthroughs, and audits must be conducted on regular basis.
- There shall be use of automated tools and technologies to allow the resources to effectively utilize the technology.
Recommendations & Conclusion
- MAC must keep an eye on the management and shall ensure that the management resources have the excellent managerial and leadership skills to adequately carry out the project. The use of automated tools must be witnessed in the areas of project management as well (Shariff, 2013).
- The internal and external stakeholders of the project must be kept involved through stakeholder assessment and stakeholder mapping.
- There shall be training sessions organized for the resources so that the skill enhancement is done and the trainings must be provided on the project areas so that risk identification and handling is improved (Newton, 2015).
- There shall be use of agile methodology to make sure that adaptive approach is followed and implemented. It shall also be ensured that iterative processes are use so that the changes may be made easily and the end results are always scalable in nature (Csbdu, 2004).
- There shall be attention paid to the maintenance of supplier relations and the use of adequate procurement strategy shall be done. There shall be procurement plan prepared and implemented in advance so that the supplier groups are kept in contact at all times.
- Data collection processes shall be detailed and extensive and it shall be made sure that all the possible sources of data are used to gather the information. The data collection methods should use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods (Bilkent, 2010).
- It is certain that there will be certain issues and loopholes that will occur during the timeline of the project. It shall be made sure that the methodologies and strategies to deal with such risks are always in place in the form of risk management processes (Crane, 2013).
- It is necessary that all the project knowledge areas are synced to avoid the negative implication of any of the one area on the other. The project management must ensure that all the project areas are effectively handled and managed.
References
Amalraj, J. (2007). Project Management: Challenges & Lessons Learned. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.beg.utexas.edu/energyecon/ua_2007/AB_Project_Mgt_challenges.pdf
Baker, M. (2013). Boeing 787-8 Design, Certification, And Manufacturing Systems Review. Faa.gov. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/about/plans_reports/media/787_Report_Final.pdf
Bbc. (2012). Factfile: Airbus A380. BBC News. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-11693164
Bilkent. (2010). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Cs.bilkent.edu.tr. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~cagatay/cs413/PMBOK.pdf
Crane, L. (2013). Introduction to Risk Management. Extensionrme.org. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://extensionrme.org/pubs/IntroductionToRiskManagement.pdf
Csbdu. (2004). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.csbdu.in/csbdu-old/pdf/A%20Guide%20to%20the%20Project%20Management%20Body%20of%20Knowledge.pdf
Denning, S. (2013). The Boeing Debacle: Seven Lessons Every CEO Must Learn. Comlabgames.com. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://comlabgames.com/45-971/instructor/boeing/Boeing%20Debacle_Seven%20Lessons%20Every%20CEO%20Must%20Learn%20%20Forbes_01_17_13.pdf
Dorfler, I., & Baumann, O. (2014). Learning from a Drastic Failure: The Case of the Airbus A380 Program. Taylor & Francis. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13662716.2014.910891
Elahi, E., Sheikhzadeh, M., & Lamba, N. (2012). “An Integrated Outsourcing Framework: Analyzing Boeing’s Outsourcing Program for Dreamliner (B787). Scholarworks.umb.edu. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://scholarworks.umb.edu/msis_faculty_pubs/26/
Freimuth, D. (2016). Financial evaluation of the Airbus A380 Neo program. Brage.bibsys.no. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2442498/MSc0152016.pdf?sequence=1
Mseitif, J. (2014). Boeing’s Behavior in a Liberalized Marketplace: The 787 Dreamliner Project and Impact on Puget Sound Workers. Digital.lib.washington.edu. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/26912/Mseitif_washington_0250O_13381.pdf;sequence=1
Newton, P. (2015). Principles of Project Management. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.free-management-ebooks.com/dldebk-pdf/fme-project-principles.pdf
Rochfort, S. (2006). Delay issues cloud A380 visit – Business – Business – smh.com.au. Smh.com.au. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.smh.com.au/news/business/delay-issues-cloud-a380-visit/2006/11/28/1164476179330.html
Shariff, S. (2013). Assessment of Project Management Skills and Learning Outcomes in Students’ Projects. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042813020363/pdf?md5=16f498b0203d44eb0bb95f5b83d90b6f&pid=1-s2.0-S1877042813020363-main.pdf
Shore, B. (2009). Airbus A380 – Project Failure Lessons Learned. Globalprojectstrategy.com. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://globalprojectstrategy.com/lessons/case.php?id=23
Tang, C., & Zimmerman, J. (2009). Managing New Product Development and Supply Chain Risks: The Boeing 787 Case. Retrieved 24 October 2018, from https://eng.umd.edu/~austin/ense622.d/lecture-resources/Boeing787-Outsourcing2009.pdf
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
