The Making of Boeing 777

When the US-based airplane manufacturer, Boeing Airplane Company (Boeing), announced the development of a new airplane model - Boeing 777 - in the late 1980s, many aviation experts wondered about the rationale behind the decision. They questioned the need for a new model since Boeing's highly successful 747 model had been flying successfully for over 30 years (Refer Exhibit I for a brief note on Boeing 747). Aviation experts argued that Boeing was unnecessarily spending a huge amount of money to develop a new model, whose size, capacity and convenience was, in their opinion, roughly similar to the existing 747. They added that designing and developing a new aircraft was a highly complex affair.

However, Boeing countered experts' argument: "Why do auto manufacturers keep improving their latest models to suit customers' needs? Because they are dynamic and market-driven and don't want to be out of business by hanging on to old models." Boeing felt that airplane manufacturers, like auto manufacturers, had to keep innovating new airplane models if they wanted to survive in the competitive world. To cut costs on designing and developing the new 777 model, Boeing adopted a unique process. For the first time in aircraft manufacturing history, Boeing adopted a collaborative designing and development process that involved customers, air carriers, technicians, finance experts, computer experts and even other aircraft manufacturers.