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October 2006 Volume V, Issue VI www.boeing.com/frontiers LOOKING AHEAD Meet the Advanced Systems organization A SKILLED BUILD 16 of IDS, where Boeing employees are Determinant assembly helps 777 line developing new-technology solutions to support its defense, security, space and THAT FEELS BETTER 28 new market customers A look at Boeing’s wellness resources A QUALITY DECISION 34 Streamlined process aids Boeing, suppliers October 2006 Volume V, Issue VI ON THE COVER: The A160 Hummingbird. Photo by Bob Ferguson O T O BOB FERGUSON PH COVER STORY MOVING AHEAD 12 Employees in the Advanced Systems organization of Integrated Defense Systems—such as those working on the Orbital Express ASTRO demonstration satellite in Huntington Beach, Calif. (above)—are developing future capabilities to support defense, security and other customers. What’s in your wellness toolkit? Boeing offers employees wellness FEELING 28 “tools” from information to services to fitness opportunities. These re- FEATURE sources allow employees to focus on the wellness of themselves and their fam- BETTER ily members. That helps employees be more productive at work and at home. STORY BOEING FRONTIERS October 2006 3 October 2006 Volume V, Issue VI O T O The new 777 Accurate Floor Grid–Determinant T PH Assembly Process gives mechanics easier access R during assembly. It also requires significantly less CKHA 16 O space than the previous three-story tooling struc- L N ture used to build up 777 floor grids. IA R MA COMMERCIAL AIRPLANES INTEGRATED DEFENSE SYSTEMS Parts of a tool What’s the big idea Members of the Manufacturing Engineering team Boeing is developing a high-capacity miniature 16 in Everett, Wash., came up with an idea to improve 20 satellite. It weighs less than three pounds (1.36 the assembly of 777 floor grids. If you’ve played with Lego kilograms) and can fit in a lunch box, but it can perform toys or an Erector set, you’ll understand how this process more than 300 million instructions per second with just improvement works. one of its four microcontrollers. Commitment to Service COMPANYWIDE Boeing Service Company tackles spacecraft- 18 related jobs from preparing payloads for launch Boosting growth, productivity into space to maintaining communications satellites. In this month’s Leadership Message, Shep Hill, Look over here 5 senior vice president, Business Development and Strategy, explains what elements go into achieving When in space, astronauts must be ready to tackle simultaneous productivity and growth—and how these 21 myriad maintenance and repair tasks. Boeing is elements are implemented. working on augmented reality, a video-based technology designed to help improve training methods Helping suppliers help Boeing Teach your airmen well To better ensure quality compliance among sup- 34 pliers, Boeing has streamlined processes. This lets Boeing is overseeing the planning of an F-22 Raptor Boeing spend more time being proactive with suppliers— 24 maintenance training facility at Sheppard Air Force and makes suppliers more efficient by reducing duplicative Base, Texas. The facility will give attending airmen the quality-compliance audits and processes. equivalent of a two-year college program in four months. 5 Leadership Message 7 Notebook 36 Focus on Finance 41 Around Boeing INSIDE 6 Letters 8 New and Notable 38 Milestones 42 Spotlight 4 October 2006 BOEING FRONTIERS n LEADERSHIP MESSAGE Defining the process of growth The process is not elaborate and the ingredients are not new; the emphasis is on the discipline of implementation. First, we must understand the markets we serve, in detail and objectively. Are the markets growing and profitable? How Shep Hill are they segmented? Are there fault lines due to change? Senior vice president, Within those markets, we have to define the enduring cus- tomer needs—articulated and unarticulated, addressed and Business Development unaddressed, current and future. and Strategy Next, we must develop a strategy to competitively distin- guish ourselves in meeting those needs. Then comes assessing the capabilities necessary to imple- ment our strategy and whether we possess those capabilities or need to develop, partner or acquire them. If the latter, we then identify the necessary resources to do so. Finally, we create a Boeing solution and determine how it will be delivered and supported in a manner that delights the customer. While the process is straightforward, it cannot be mechanical in nature. It relies on insight, foresight and judgment. To grow, Boeing must be anticipatory—using current market and cus- O tomer knowledge to envision the future while taking the actions T O necessary to intercept that future before the competition does. D PH The in-depth thinking and analysis of what the future might OO look like—and how we can shape it—is integral to the process. ITH W KE Our future focus must be aligned with our current perfor- mance. Incremental growth relies on a stable base from which rocess—Webster’s dictionary defines process as “a se- to grow. We must continue our focus on customer relation- ries of actions or operations conducing to an end.” Re- ships, the quality of the customer experience, and the value Plated words include course, method, route, practice and of our products and services. We must ensure we capture the means. At Boeing, the phrase “growth as a process” highlights full value of the business we have by executing flawlessly and the concept that business growth results from a disciplined driving down our costs. We must continue to expand our ser- set of actions, a method of operation and a repeatable course, vices capabilities and market share through improved cost rather than simply as a reaction to a series of opportunities. structure, partnerships and acquisitions. Through Phantom Why is this concept important to Boeing now and in the fu- Works, we must continue to provide innovative technologies ture? Boeing enjoys a position as the world’s largest aerospace that enable our businesses to deliver the capabilities that our company. Our market strategies—of efficient point-to-point com- customers will need in the future. Finally, to augment organic mercial air travel, network-enabled military platforms, and high- growth, we must prepare to move into attractive adjacencies quality, cost-effective services in support of both—have result- with existing capabilities or through strategy-driven acquisi- ed in competitive success and an industry-leading backlog. Our tions that enable market access or capability enhancement. balanced portfolio of both commercial airplanes and national- Boeing’s revenue growth forecast is healthy today. It ben- security products has helped mitigate inherent market cycles. efits from an up cycle in commercial airplanes offsetting a But from a historical perspective, Boeing has struggled—rel- moderating defense market—just as a rising defense cycle ative to industry peers—in sustaining profitable growth. Even had offset the post-9/11 downturn in commercial aviation. today, we remain subject to the ebb and flow of our markets. The critical challenge Boeing faces in the future is whether Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim we can sustain profitable growth through the highs and lows McNerney’s emphasis on productivity and growth points to of both of our largest markets. This will depend on technology the need for us to be both efficient at the bottom line (profits) and innovation, as well as strategies that anticipate the future and disciplined in adding to the top line (revenues). If we do and competencies that will help create it. It will also depend this, we will create sustainable value and earnings-per-share on leaders engaging and inspiring their teams to realize that growth over time. The greatest challenge for achieving simul- driving growth and improving productivity is hard work—yet taneous productivity and growth is developing an ability to it’s exciting, rewarding, and fun! improve the top line and the bottom line, year after year, even Repeatable excellence in design and manufacturing of our in difficult market conditions. products is achieved by outstanding employees who use disci- So, then, how do we describe the process, and what are its plined processes. Sustainable growth will be accomplished in essential ingredients? the same manner. n BOEING FRONTIERS October 2006 5 n LETTERS You can’t fuel me “Might someone have been comparing wish to dispute the fuel- [the gas mileage of] a single-rider road efficiency comparison table Publisher: Tom Downey I vehicle to a fully-loaded aircraft? Not a in “Movement improvement” Editorial director: Jo Anne Davis (Page 30, August 2006)—spe- very fair comparison, I’d assert.” EDITORIAL TEAM cifically, the 10.7 and 6.4 liters —Patrick McKillip, Puyallup, Wash. Editor: per 100 passenger kilometers Paul Proctor: (312) 544-2938 attributed, respectively, to the Managing editor: sport utility vehicle and the in Everett about how im- Junu Kim: (312) 544-2939 car. Per the description at the portant it is to wear your Designer: bottom of the table and simple Boeing Identification Heather Dubinskas: (312) 544-2118 algebra, an SUV or car trans- badge “chest high” while Cal Romaneschi: (312) 544-2930 porting five passengers need on company property. Commercial Airplanes editor: Then I notice multiple Dick Schleh: (206) 766-2124 only travel 20 kilometers (12.43 miles) to achieve 100 passenger articles in the August Integrated Defense Systems editor: 2006 edition of Boeing Diane Stratman: (562) 797-1443 kilometers. I own a Jeep Grand Chero- Frontiers and Challenge Engineering, Operations and with photos of our Technology editor: kee. I know from experience William Cole: (314) 232-2186 that my rig with five passengers leaders not wearing a Shared Services editor: and the cargo area loaded-to- Boeing badge. Are they Mick Boroughs: (206) 919-7584 the-gills with heavy camping setting a bad example Copy editor: gear will deliver more than 16 and not following com- Walter Polt: (312) 544-2954 miles per gallon all day long.