Word: aircrafting
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Clinton's visit allowed 1.2 billion Chinese to see the No. 1 person of the country that makes Coca-Cola, Nike sportswear and Boeing aircraft, all of which are quite familiar to Chinese eyes. Clinton's open exchange of views with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Peking University students and callers in Shanghai is unparalleled. The Chinese have now seen a democratically elected leader talk with the people in an open way. And they may think twice about why their own party leaders are seldom seen in public, let alone speaking in an impromptu fashion with them. XIAO-MING YU Charlottesville...
That's just the trouble. Boeing nose-dived while trying to meet the largest surge of aircraft orders in a half-century and at the same time striving to change costly and outmoded corporate practices. One of those problems has been a degree of fine tuning that seems more appropriate to the world of tailoring. Boeing managers like to describe a ship like the wide-bodied 747 as "6 million parts flying in close formation," and they have long stood ready to customize them not just for every airline but for every single order. Boeing offers the 747's customers...
Boeing was phasing in these and other reforms when aircraft orders, which had been no-shows at the start of the decade, suddenly arrived in droves. With cash-rich economies fueling air travel in the U.S. and Asia, carriers took off on a buying binge. Boeing suddenly faced the task of transforming the way it builds planes while furiously ramping up production of new jets. "I've described it as trying to change the tire on my car while going 60 miles an hour," says Condit...
Impressive as all that is, some critics doubt that the transformation alone will have much impact on Boeing's bottom line. Wolfgang Demisch, a managing director of the investment firm BT Alex. Brown, calls Boeing "hugely overstaffed" and ridicules its price war with Airbus. "The commercial-aircraft industry should be enormously profitable because it is a fortress franchise," Demisch says. He argues that with just two manufacturers selling to about 450 airlines, "I see no reason at all why prices [of planes] are as bad as they are. Neither competitor has any real notion of price discipline...
Boeing is thus staking its future on efficient manufacture rather than on developing flashy products that fly ever higher, faster and farther, the usual mantra for new aircraft. "For years we were able to raise the price of airplanes based on technology," says vice president Hammer. "But we can't do that anymore. If I want to make a profit, I've got to lower the cost...