This assignment investigated the product development process in Boeing 787 Dreamliner. I will go through The product development process adopted for the product, Reasons/features that created excitement in the first place, Major problems encountered that caused the delay in launching the product, Problems faced in operation that led to the grounding of all aircrafts of this model, Problems faced in operation that led to the grounding of all aircrafts of this model and How would I handle the development of this product. On the surface, it seems that the supplier management organization at Boeing didn’t have diddly-squat in terms of engineering capability when they sourced all that work, which caused the whole event. But if we dig it deeply, inspecting from its excitement to disappointment brought to the public, we may see that how the product development strategy and process can lead to tremendous outcomes and feedbacks to the product, as well as to the future of the company’s developing prospect. In this aspect, the lesson learnt from the Boeing 787 Dreamliner will not be an individual case, but it brings about the precious teaching effect and updated conceptualizations in further product development process.
1. The product development process adopted for the product.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is classified to be an orginal design and the product development process emphasises on “Modular Innovation”, taking advantages of new technologies to increase reliability and improve maintainability in components and sub-systems. Compared with most commercial aircraft that are simply refinements of earlier models, the Dreamliner is a departure from previous models as an example of radical innovation. This form of innovation is about taking risks with complexity, challenging assumptions and reinvestigating what customers want. But the innovation didn’t corporate in system level, thus taking greater risks for the whole product.
To develop the