Advanced skills required for engineering leaders in global product development

Observations from first hand experience on the Boeing 787 Program during development of perhaps the most important and exciting new commercial airplane in recent history has identified opportunities to enhance the global product development skills of key engineering leaders. Extreme challenges related to typical factors (e.g., cost, schedule, quality) are coupled with a radically different business model - one shaped by a product development strategy that relies heavily on globally dispersed risk-sharing partners. In addition, the 787 would use dramatically new carbon composite materials and manufacturing methods for the airplane structure, as well as advanced technologies for the airplane systems and propulsion. This was further complicated by the parallel development of new design software intended for use in creating, sharing, and managing all 787 product definition data. The lead design engineer - among the most critical resource on the product development team - must engage on all fronts. Given the complexities of this endeavor, advanced skills are necessary for engineering leaders to succeed, and Boeing must ensure they have these skills. This research was intended to specify some of these advanced skills, identify deficiencies in the current workforce, and suggest ways in which industry and academia might team together to address such deficiencies.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ayubi, Harry H

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas Allen.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70795

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/70795