787 Global Collaboration Environment: A Case Study in Designing and Building in a Geographically Dispersed Environment

Boeing is embarking on a journey to introduce a new product which will change the aerospace industry; the 787 Dreamliner. The 787 has set numerous sales records in its first year and continues to be groundbreaking as we pass the half-way mark on our way to the rollout of the first airplane.

The airplane itself is entirely new with a vastly different interior than previous airplanes. As passengers enter the airplane, they will be amazed by the arches and skylights. The windows are significantly larger than any previous airplane and no longer have the pull down shades. Instead the lighting is controlled by a knob which lightens or darkens the glass. Seats are state of the art with entertainment panels available at each site. The lighting is indirect and softened to provide a warmer environment.

A key element of the 787 is to put fun back into flying. A major component of flying and passenger comfort is cabin altitude. Current production airplanes fly at an equivalent of an 8000 foot altitude, which results in shortness of breath and other health factors. The 787 has a composite fuselage which does not have the same fatigue characteristics as a metal fuselage. Boeing has performed extensive studies to determine that the optimal equivalent cabin pressure is 6000 feet or less. Up to this point there is little difference, but there appears to be a cliff after which flying quality noticeably declines. Therefore the 787 is targeted to have a cabin altitude of just under than 6000 feet which provides a very significant increase in passenger comfort relative to current planes, with only a small impact on the airplane performance.

As part of the journey, Boeing is partnering with companies around the world to collaborate on the design and build of the 787. The business model is industry leading in its scope and magnitude. Previous airplane programs were performed by Boeing bringing everyone to the Puget Sound area of Washington for up to two years. Entire apartment complexes near the design center were occupied by aerospace engineers working on the design of the airplane. In addition, Boeing paid for all the costs including computers, training and travel. While this was a world class model of working together through the first century of flight, it is no longer a viable business model in aerospace for the second century of flight. Instead we have set up a business model that employs partners.

This business model for the second century is similar to other industries. Risk sharing partners work together to develop a complex product and then share in the revenue. For the 787 this meant bringing a small group of partners and suppliers on-site through what we call the joint definition stage of the airplane. At this point in time, the major configuration decisions are made and the outside lines of the airplane are frozen. Partners and suppliers have moved back to their remote sites to complete the detail design, release the datasets and begin fabrication.

Another major difference as a result of the new business model for the 787 is the final assembly flow. Previous airplanes spent months or weeks in Final Assembly because integration occurred in the Puget Sound factories. Final Assembly for a 787 will be three days. For the 787, essentially nine major end items will be shipped to Everett to be assembled. This means that most of the integration will be performed remotely and prior to Final Assembly. Also, because these nine end items will be assembled outside of the Puget Sound area, it is no longer viable to ship these end items via barge or rail. Instead Boeing has purchased a series of modified freighters called 747 Large Cargo Freighters to fly these major end items to the Puget Sound area within 24 hours.

To support the 787 business model, it is important to establish the capability to perform concurrent product definition using a single instance of Enovia LCA in the Puget Sound area of Washington . This presents a series of challenges due to geographically dispersed locations. Some partners are as much as 8000 miles from the Puget Sound area. Other challenges include the ability to integrate complex systems from all over the world, the ability to deploy the same version of the software to all partners around the world, and providing partner training around the world. One key item in the new business model is that partners are responsible for their own computing, training and infrastructure. Therefore each partner and in some cases each partner site, has a unique infrastructure. Compounding this is the unique cultures at each site and the “follow the sun” clock that was developed to determine when each partner is working first shift. These are all important factors for effective remote concurrent product definition and these factors require efficient remote access architecture.

There are two cornerstone principles involved in remote access architecture. The first is to bring the data closer to the people. This is done by sending the data from the Puget Sound to their remote work station. There are a couple of different methods available to do this. The second principle is to bring the people closer to the data. This is effectively accomplished deploying windows terminal servers running Citrix and the v5 PLM suite in Puget Sound . This allows only keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen shots to be sent to the remote work station, while the data remains in the Puget Sound area.

The 787 program devised a suite of access methods and processes based upon these two principles. We even developed a document describing which access method should be used for specific statements of work. There is always at least one preferred method for each category. In several categories, there are several items labeled ‘red' indicating that they should not be used due to poor performance or other restrictions. This suite of access tools and processes are referred to as the 787 Global Collaboration Environment.

After we built the systems and processes, our real challenges began. We found that “field” conditions are completely different from “lab” conditions. It is important to note that the people issues are paramount in the actual remote deployment and needed to be addressed first. The first major item is people's perceptions. A large number of people at remote sites could not understand why the performance in their location was not the same as at the Puget Sound . A number of people even claimed that Boeing had promised that they would have the same performance. A level setting of expectations had to occur before anything else could proceed.

The next major issue of remote access is partner infrastructures. Almost every partner infrastructure was substandard in some aspect. It became necessary for us to go perform some testing at our Boeing Global Service centers located in Europe and Asia to determine what good, remote performance should look like at partner sites. We also performed testing in Australia , which is the most geographically dispersed location from the Puget Sound area, to determine the benchmark of which performance should not be any worse.

In order to deploy the tools and process to these remote locations we developed usability scales for the tools and determined what the performance was relative to these scales. This is difficult though due to something we call “human computer interaction”. For some people, they are willing to wait a few seconds for a response from their computer. Others require an instantaneous response to their key stroke. The other factor that enters into this is how acceptable do these items become to the individual. Performance may not be the same, but it might be okay if the other option is to move to the Puget Sound for two years.

In spite of our challenges, the tools and processes are now deployed to these remote locations. Datasets are being released, factories are going up and parts are beginning to flow back to the Puget Sound area. The system is in place and supporting this extremely successful new airplane program. The 787 Global Collaboration Environment enables Boeing and Partners to design and build the most cost effective and passenger friendly commercial aircraft in the history of aviation.

Since 1916, Boeing has been at the frontier of human flight. The 787 Dreamliner continues that voyage. It is truly a world airplane. Because of Boeing's global business approach and its strategic partnerships around the world, talented people from many countries are making important contributions to building this innovative airplane. The Boeing Dreamliner provides a business solution for airlines everywhere—offering unsurpassed operational flexibility. Exciting improvements in passenger comfort will change flight forever. The Dreamliner continues the Boeing tradition of advancing commercial aviation, and providing the platform for the future.