The Boeing Dreamliner is one of the most revolutionary commercial aircraft that has hit the market. But it took a lot of mistakes that we can learn from for that too happen, including operations. Boeing should have eliminated the amount of suppliers from the get go: The lack of uncertainty prior to receiving work-in-process goods or finished body goods like wings were too high. This caused uncertainty with stakeholders eventually affecting the Dreamliner’s online and offline reputation. Word-of-mouth was a big contributor to how

These solutions allowed Boeing to better measure internal benchmarking. The process involved using an organizational units (within the organization) with superior performance as the benchmark for other units. This was hard to achieve when the majority of the Dreamliner’s operations were outsourced. Furthermore, this allowed Boeing to be more efficient and effective in their capacity. Both concepts measure how well a machine and/or worker performs compared to a stand output level and if they can reasonably sustain that under normal conditions.

Slowly but surely, Boeing was seeking ways to improve their process. This is a Japanese concept called Kaizen, a fundamental concept in lean systems. It works towards eliminating waste, finding solutions, and improving overall process. This was the saving grace in their online reputation management. Their ORM turned around when they changed their strategy in operations. We can learn from their operations mistakes by acknowledging that it affects ones online reputation a lot.

Once the seven main body parts were transported to Seattle, the next step was to assemble the work-in-process goods into one big finished good: the Dreamliner 787. Before assembly, Boeing employees would spray paint each body white multiple times with specialized products. In manufacturing and in the final assembly, Boeing completed all their operations on a fixed plan. All facets of a business are connected. With poor operations decisions, stakeholders stop having faith and a reputation starts to deteriorate.