Challenge A Boeing Engineering, Operations & Technology magazine for Boeing employees

Inspiring by

example

Engineers and operations people are leading the way – by finding a way

INSIDE: - Mary Armstrong: Energized for the environment - Flying green: Phantom Works’ fuel cell airplane prepares for first flight - Nice, but how necessary? Evaluating and leveraging lab and test facilities

July 2007

Leading by example Welcome to another issue of Challenge magazine, a publication designed especially for the engineering, operations and technology work force of Boeing. It certainly has been an exciting and challenging year so far, and we have tried to capture some of the remarkable collaborative work occurring throughout the shop floors, cubicles and offices of Boeing that is helping us meet our challenges. For instance, you will find an article about how the Boeing Operations Leadership Team, known as the BOLT, is working in collaboration with the engineering function to make our manufacturing operations more efficient. You will see how the Lab and Test Facilities sub-team of the Development Process Excellence Initiative is looking at our test assets across the enterprise to see how they can be better leveraged. And you will learn more about the leader of Boeing’s new Environment, Health and Safety organization, who has the challenge of integrating and expanding the focus of the separate environmental groups and initiatives within the company. Related to the environment, we have also featured the team at our Boeing Research & Technology-Europe in Madrid, Spain that is developing, and will soon be demonstrating, an airplane that will fly with a zero-emissions fuel-cell as a primary power source. Other interesting articles will inform you about how technical support teams operate in the harshest weather and combat conditions, how Math and Computing Technology employees are working on technologies that are helping to build Boeing’s future, and how an important Future Combat Systems ground exercise was conducted. Since people drive the success of this company, you will get to meet a number of interesting individuals and teams around the company who are involved in all these activities and more. In an article entitled “Where there’s a will . . .” you will meet a number of Boeing employees, for instance, who are inspiring others by meeting their challenges through teamwork. As always, we hope you enjoy the stories you read and the people you meet in this issue of Challenge. We also hope you learn more about how the engineering, operations and technology functions are working together with an enterprise focus to improve the growth and productivity of Boeing. Finally, we will enjoy hearing your views about these stories and any recommendations you have for future stories. Keep up the great work!

John Tracy Boeing Senior Vice President Engineering, Operations & Technology

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Challenge magazine, focusing on engineering, operations and technology, is published twice a year for all Boeing employees.

Challenge July 2007

ON THE COVER: Calculating the future John Henderson: “Data networks are crucial to many aspects of Boeing’s business.” See page 4

Glenn Malcolm and Shirley Allen, manufacturing employees on the 737 moving line, collaborate in a 737 flight deck to ensure quality assembly . . . (See story beginning on page 24)

4 Calculating the future

Phantom Works employees in the Mathematics and Computing Technology organization are coming up with amazing technologies designed to carry Boeing into the future.

Mary Armstrong: Energized for the environment “This is bigger than Boeing,” says Mary Armstrong. “It’s something that affects all of us in a very personal way every day. It has captured the hearts and minds of our employees.” See page 10

12 Into the wild green yonder Meet members of the fuel-cell team in Madrid, Spain, who are making Boeing’s super-clean aircraft a reality. The demonstration aircraft will create history this year with aviation’s first zero-emissions flight.

24 Where there’s a will . . .

Meet operations and manufacturing employees, engineers and technologists across the enterprise who are finding ways to improve efficiency and productivity. Going shopping – Boeing style! Lisa Wells: “If you work with suppliers more as teammates, they feel more comfortable coming to you with problems early on.” See page 46

Address correspondence to:

Challenge staff

Editor, Challenge E-mail: [email protected] Mailcode: S100-3225 P.O. Box 516 St. Louis, MO 63166-0516

Publisher: John Tracy Editorial director: Dave Phillips Editor: William Cole Art director: Cass Weaver Copy editor: Walter Polt Photos by: Bob Ferguson (except where noted)

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40 Nice, but is it necessary? A team created under the Development Process Excellence Initiative is touring the company to evaluate how well its lab and test facilities are being leveraged.

10 Meet Mary Armstrong 16 Whoooa! Extreme conditions in the field 22 BOLTing for the best 34 FCS hits the ground running 44 Dustbusters! 46 Going shopping – Boeing style! 52 Portrait: FCS integration lab team

Calculating the

future

Phantom Works employees in the Mathematics and Computing Technology organization are helping to come up with amazing technologies designed to carry Boeing into the future.

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By Tom Koehler

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n a quiet office park in Bellevue, Wash., a group of 250 very smart people are working to develop new technologies for better Boeing products and services. Comprised of computing experts, mathematicians and engineering analysts, 89 percent of whom hold advanced scientific degrees from many of the world’s top-tier universities, the Boeing Phantom Works Mathematics and Computing Technology (M&CT) group has been Boeing’s resource for advanced information technology research and development for more than 30 years. Collaborating closely with the people in Boeing’s business units, M&CT is chartered to provide advanced research and

Left: Tom Grandine, a Boeing Technical Fellow and expert in computer-aided geometric design. Behind him is a basic formula used by Boeing computers about 500,000 times a day. Using special tools, his team was able to achieve a 39 percent weight reduction in a hypersonic vehicle concept.

continued on page 6

Above: Martin Meckesheimer and Stephen Jones, pictured in the 787 Dreamliner interior mockup, used applied statistics to make the case for more personal space, bigger windows, enhanced lighting and increased cabin pressure in the 787.

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be varied parametrically, like clay or rubber, in search of an optimum shape or design.” “We have been able to develop tools that help engineers quickly and efficiently sort through the entire design space of possible solutions,” says Tom Grandine, a Boeing Technical Fellow and expert in M&CT in computer-aided geometric design. “In the case of the hypersonics vehicle concept, we were able to achieve a 39 percent weight reduction by taking advantage of the synergy possible in the interplay between each of the engineering disciplines,” he says. “Design space exploration is an essential technology for being able to win new business in the future,” Grandine adds. “Specifically, the ability to explore design space thoroughly enables Boeing to select candidate designs that best match customer needs and expectations, both in cost and performance. With-

“We work with creative people at throughout Boeing, as well as universities, government and private laboratories, and industry partners across the world to make sure Boeing has the right answers at the right time to help keep the company competitive.”

Paul Murray, Charles Erignac and Jim Troy of the Autonomous and Intelligent Systems group with some of the technology demonstration autonomous helicopters they are helping to develop. “The future of aviation is closely tied with increasing levels of autonomy,” says Murray.

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development and long-term solutions to address the special requirements of the business units in areas such as multi-disciplinary design optimization, network-centric operations, large-scale data and text mining, mobile network communications, distributed collaborative design, and intelligent decision systems. “We are about high-tech answers to high-tech problems,” says M&CT Director Susan Ying, “and we work with creative people throughout Boeing, as well as at universities, government and private laboratories, and industry partners across the world to make sure Boeing has the right answers at the right time to help keep the company competitive.” In the past, people in M&CT helped produce breakthrough capabilities ranging from digital modeling software that enabled Boeing designers to fly through the 777 airplane before it was built to verify the spatial relationships of objects to emerging processes that include radio frequency identification. Here’s a look at some of what M&CT is working on today:

– Susan Ying. out these tools, candidate designs must be selected on the basis of educated guesses rather than hard facts.”

Computer networking Networks – they are everywhere. People have become dependent on televisions, the Internet, telephones, personal data assistants and many other networked devices. When a network fails, it can be inconvenient or even paralyzing.

Computer-aided geometric design optimization Recently, M&CT helped to solve a problem involving the Hypersonic Space Plane, a futuristic concept involving scramjet propulsion that is intended to produce a vehicle that will take off from a conventional runway and fly at very high speed into low-Earth orbit. “We needed help in determining the optimum geometric shape or design of the vehicle given the wide range of possible designs,” says Kevin Bowcutt, Boeing Senior Technical Fellow in Phantom Works and the lead scientist of hypersonic space plane research within the company. “M&CT developed an innovation that involved very complex modeling of the geometry of hypersonic vehicles and provided a way that the shape could

M&CT Director Susan Ying: “We are about high-tech answers to high-tech problems.”

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Charles Erignac, an autonomous systems scientist with the Autonomous and Intelligent Systems group, demonstrates the capabilities of an autonomous mini-helicopter that he and his team are helping to develop.

selves. And we’re also working on modeling techniques that allow us to prototype network concepts with small emulated test networks that run on a single device. The work that our group is doing is being applied to several of Boeing’s internal networking projects and we’re also working to improve the standards for wireless communications.”

At Boeing, which supports a very large internal enterprise corporate computing network as well as data services to airplanes in the sky and data services to the edge of the tactical battlefield, network failure or downtime often is not an option. “Data networks are crucial to many aspects of Boeing’s business,” says Tom Henderson, a Boeing Associate Technical Fellow. He investigates techniques in M&CT’s Network Technology group to adapt, extend, or use Internet-related technologies to solve computer networking problems. “Many current challenges in networks stem from links that are wireless,” Henderson says. “Wireless links are prone to errors and outages, and often the traditional Internet-based technologies don’t work as expected in wireless systems. “In our group, we’re working on mobile routers that efficiently route data over these wireless links,” he says. “We’re working on programs that allow the network devices to configure them-

Applied statistics On the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, passengers will be more comfortable than on any jetliner ever made. How do the people at Boeing know for sure? Because they can prove it – thanks in part to the work of M&CT’s Applied Statistics group. “Important decisions are being made all of the time at Boeing,” says Stephen Jones, an applied statistician and expert in continued on page 8

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an area of statistics called Design of Experiments. “These decisions are made with imperfect knowledge, and so there is risk associated with them. Statistics, being based on probability theory, provides a suite of methodologies that enable decisions to be made in the face of uncertainty, so that the risks of various decisions are understood and quantified.” Jones, fellow applied statistician Martin Meckesheimer, and others in M&CT’s Applied Statistics group helped generate and analyze the statistical data from passenger studies and focus groups that supported the company’s decision to produce a breakthrough passenger cabin for the 787. “Today, the flying public can hardly tell what kind of airplane it is on, but the 787 will be distinct, featuring more personal space, bigger windows, enhanced lighting and a better overall cabin environment with increased cabin pressure,” Meckesheimer says. “We helped provide the statistical evidence that suggests that putting these features into the 787 was the right business decision.” Olga Walker is part of a team helping to protect Boeing electronic “There’s a lot to be information by using advanced said for an informed deinformation assurance technology. cision,” confirms Blake Emery, Boeing Commercial Airplanes director of Differentiation Strategy. “The kind of research we do with these folks really helps bring forth data that can be a big part of the decision.” “I have no doubt that passengers will know that the 787 offers superior comfort to them and it will encourage them to continue to fly that airplane in the future,” Jones adds. Tom Henderson, a Boeing Associate Technical Fellow, investigates techniques in the network technology group to adapt, extend, or use Internet-related technologies to solve computer networking problems.

Intelligent systems and robots While many people dream of finding a robot to handle menial tasks such as taking out the garbage or grabbing the newspaper in the driveway, M&CT is taking the idea much further – believing that robots should almost be able to think for themselves and to act autonomously as individuals or in teams. “We share a vision of robotics research in which machines are enabled to do complex tasks with little or no human supervision,” says Paul Murray, an M&CT autonomous systems engineer. “Some tasks may be unpleasant or even dangerous for humans,” Murray says. The technologies we’re developing will enable robots to do these things. Our technology provides unique methods of control between human operators and either individual or teams of robots.” An important example of teaming behavior might be the collaborative search of a building or urban environment looking for

threats, Murray says. “It’s our strong belief that the robotics technologies that we’re building here in M&CT and that we’re acquiring from around the world will be used to build the best possible Boeing products. The future of aviation is closely tied with increasing levels of autonomy.” He says that as electronic and mechanical systems continue their downward trend in size and power consumption, an entire new class of intelligent, autonomous devices will become possible, extending human sensory and mechanical capabilities far beyond what is now possible.

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technology area has led to cutting-edge products and services, and helped with critical differentiation on government contract wins.

Information assurance As a large-scale systems integrator, Boeing has a fundamental requirement to distribute, store and process electronic data safely, securely and efficiently. The company’s complex systems must meet data and storage requirements, and provide protection from hackers. “Information assurance technology that we’ve developed is used to build new information assurance systems, as well as to prove that these systems operate correctly,” says Scott Lintelman, manager of M&CT’s information assurance technology group. For example, M&CT information assurance expert and Associate Technical Fellow Walter Beck has helped develop technology that provides secure electronic distribution of software to airlines and Walter Beck has helped to develop airplanes. In place of a technology that provides secure cumbersome and costly electronic distribution of software process that today relies to airlines and airplanes. on floppy disks, CDs, signed documents and shipping via bonded carriers, the Boeing Electronic Distribution of Software system employs advanced cryptographic techniques to perform electronic functions analogous to the packing, shipping and signing for physical software and documentation. “A key to the technology is that it incorporates digital signatures that prevent tampering, modifying or forging of the information,” Beck says. “Airline customers are excited to receive the data electronically and avoid the physical media,” says Todd Mickelson, senior manager of Information Technology with BCA’s Commercial Aviation Services organization. “Our information assurance technology is applicable throughout the Boeing enterprise – not only to Commercial Airplanes, but also to Integrated Defense Systems,” Lintelman says. “One of the important aspects of Phantom Works’ mission is to develop a particular technology once, and then transition it to multiple programs throughout the company. The work we’re doing for Commercial Airplanes, for example, has already been leveraged in technology demonstrations by the C-17 program. Careful design and formal proof of security properties widens the applicability and ensures transitions to multiple Boeing programs as the system evolves.” n

Intelligent graphics There are more than 100 miles of electrical wire on large airplanes. If one of the wires breaks, finding the break and fixing it isn’t easy. People in M&CT’s Intelligent Graphics group believe the wire itself should tell troubleshooter when and where the problem is. “In addition to making the wiring diagrams easier to use, we’re actually hooking them up to hardware on aircraft,” says John Boose, a Boeing Senior Technical Fellow who works on advanced computing and intelligent graphics. “We have a box that sends a signal down a wire and gets an echo back,” Boose says. “And the echo contains information about the trouble. We can take that trouble information and put it on a wiring diagram and show exactly where the problem is on that wire.” According to Boose, intelligent graphics help reduce maintenance and operations costs, and improves training and mission readiness for the military; and Boeing’s leadership in this

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Mary Armstrong:

The new head of Boeing Environment, Heath and Safety is tapping into employee enthusiasm to help her build an effective organization and a new strategy.

Energized

for the environment

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By William Cole

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very morning she glides along the highway in a hybrid car to her office in Kent, Wash. At home, she and her family carefully sort used food packaging and throwaway cans and bottles for recycling. They diligently turn off lights, the computer, and other appliances to lower their household environmental footprint. She and her husband just donated acreage to an elk habitat preservation foundation. Until now, Mary Armstrong had been doing her part to keep the air, land and water clean, both as a private citizen and as a chemical engineer in manufacturing and senior executive involved in environmental compliance. She once worked on alternative energy sources at Chevron. But suddenly, her selection as vice president of a new Boeing Environment, Health and Safety organization – designed to integrate and expand the focus of the company’s separate environmental groups and initiatives – has thrust her into one of the company’s most important and visible leadership roles. Environmental issues – brought to the fore by evidence of global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and diminishing nonrenewable natural resources – now have the attention of the world. They also form a critical part of Boeing’s business relationship with customers and suppliers. “It’s an honor,” said Armstrong as she prepared to tackle the most challenging assignment of her 23-year Boeing career. In her new position, she will report to John Tracy, senior vice president of Engineering, Operation & Technology, since EO&T consists of the majority of enterprise functions and technology groups that she must work with to implement an EHS strategy. Her organization’s activities will also be guided by a new Environment, Health and Safety Strategy/Policy Council. Among its members: Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney who said recently, “We’re in an era when attention to environmental issues has never been greater.” The new organization will combine the existing Safety, Health and Environmental Affairs (SHEA) functions of Shared Services Group (SSG) with new functions focused on enterprise environmental strategies and objectives; defining and implementing enterprise environmental management systems and tools; and establishing standards, processes and guidelines for routinely tracking the performance of Boeing and its business partners. Her new team will have a hundred or so members integrated from existing teams, but its small size bears no relationship to the importance of her mission. “This is something we have never done before,” she says. “It’s a compliment to have been selected for this, and I’m really excited about it.” Supportive employees in the hundreds are excited too: They have been inundating Armstrong with congratulatory e-mails and phone calls – and ideas. Hardly surprising in light of the strong connection that Armstrong has cultivated with employees inside and outside her team. She has nurtured a loyal following through a balanced approach to getting things done that is both disciplined and personable. But even she is overwhelmed by their energy and enthusiasm. “This is bigger than Boeing,” she says. “It’s something that affects all of us in a very personal way every day. It has captured the hearts and minds of our employees. They want to be part of a company that’s willing to step forward and say, ‘we’re a big company and we need to lead.’” That’s particularly rewarding for Armstrong, who is almost evangelical in her insistence that people follow their dreams.

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She once turned down a company-sponsored fellowship to manage a flight-test site in Glasgow, Mont. – “one of the best jobs I ever had.” She observed and learned from the daily struggle and determination of her childhood role model, her mother. A single parent, her mom raised a family while studying at night school to qualify for a successful career in accounting at the McChord U.S. Air Force base in Washington State. “My mother would work all day as a bookkeeper, come home and fix us dinner and then go to her classes four nights a week,” says Armstrong. “Then she would study on weekends. That had a lasting impression on me.” And it’s reflected in Armstrong’s leadership style. “She has very high expectations of those who work for her, but they are no higher than those she sets for herself,” says one employee. “She’s friendly but very clear about what’s needed. She’s able to break complex issues down into really simple, understandable terms. And you get the feeling that she’s not asking you to do anything she wouldn’t do herself. She’s on your side. That’s encouraging – and calculated to get you moving.” These leadership attributes are going to be in serious demand as Armstrong sets about establishing an enterprise structure for her EHS team and begins working with the Executive EHS

Mary Armstrong at a glance Current position: Vice president of Environment, Health and Safety, Boeing Engineering, Operations & Technology. History: Process engineer for Chevron Research Company, Richmond, Calif. Joined Boeing 1984 as a process engineer for Manufacturing Research and Development. VP and general manager of the Boeing Aircraft Systems & Interiors division, VP of Boeing Facilities Services for the Puget Sound area and Wichita, Kan. VP/GM of the Commercial Airplanes Fabrication Division. Prior assignment: president of Boeing Shared Services Group. Education: Bachelor of Science and Master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and University of Rochester, New York. Organizations: Member of the Strategic Planning Council on the Board of the Puget Sound Blood Center. Board member of Island Wood, a Bainbridge Island, Wash., school inspiring environmental and community stewardship; past board member of the Point Defiance Zoo Society in Tacoma, Wash. Sponsor member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Council to identify key environmental issues and ways Boeing will address them. “I’m inheriting a strong compliance organization, and Boeing has a really good track record with regard to its products and operations,” Armstrong says. “So for the next few months, I’ll focus on meeting the right people at Boeing in an effort to understand each other and the issues.” Armstrong also intends to meet representatives at key companies that have been identified as having done a good job in their environmental strategy and performance. Her long-term priorities are to integrate the multiyear enterprise strategy into those of the business units, functions, R&D, the international group and suppliers. What will success look like? “When environmental capability and leadership are woven in to the fabric of Boeing’s management processes,” says Armstrong. Already, she has the backing of employees across the enterprise. “They are all essentially environmental experts in their own right,” she says. “They have a sense of ownership and a real stake in what we are doing. “The creation of this organization was a bold and muchneeded step for Boeing,” she says. “There couldn’t be a better time to be doing this.” n

Into the

Wild GREEN YONDER Boeing’s super-clean fuel-cell aircraft will create history this year with aviation’s first zero-emissions flight.

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Into the Wild Green Yonder

By Tom Koehler

What is a fuel cell?

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ater this year, a pilot will board a small one-seat propeller-driven airplane at an airport in Ocaña, Spain, taxi to the runway and take off. After climbing to an altitude of about 2,000 feet (610 meters), the pilot will level the wings, fly straight ahead for several minutes, and then return. What will be different about the airplane and this flight? It will be the first time in aviation history that a manned airplane will maintain straight-level flight with a zero-emissions hydrogen fuel cell as its only power source. Developed by a team of four engineers at Madrid-based Boeing Research & Technology-Europe (BR&TE), with the help of industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, the experimental Boeing Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane will produce none of the products of combustion, such as carbon dioxide, found in conventional airplane engine exhaust. Water and heat will be its only exhaust. It’s an example of how Boeing is developing environmentally progressive technologies for aerospace applications, says Francisco “Paco” Escarti, BR&TE managing director.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat without combustion. Fuel cells are emission-free and quieter than hydrocarbon fuel-powered engines. They save fuel and are cleaner for the environment.

“Given the efficiency and environmental benefits of emerging fuel cell technology, we want to learn all we can about how to apply it in our Boeing products.” – Francisco Escarti. FUEL CELL FEATURES INCLUDE:

The BR&TE team, part of the Boeing Phantom Works advanced research-and-development unit, completed the systems integration phase of the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project earlier this year, and thorough systems integration testing has been under way to prepare for ground tests and a series of flight tests. BR&TE has been working on the project since 2003. A modified motor glider, the demonstrator has a wing span of 16.3 meters (53.5 feet) and will be able to cruise at approximately 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour). It will use

Motor Controller/Inverter Air Filter Fuel Cell Stacks Water Reservoirs Electric Motor

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With the Boeing fuel-cell airplane on the tarmac in Madrid, Spain, are (from left): Jonay Mosquera, aeronautical engineer; Elena Bataller, electrical engineer; Nieves Lapeña-Rey, Environmental Technologies Team technical leader; and Jose Enrique Román, Engineering Programs director Boeing Research and Technology – Europe.

Hydrogen Tank Lithium Ion Battery Power Management & Distribution Fuel Cell Balance of Plant Radiators

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Into the Wild Green Yonder Into the Wild Green Yonder continued from page 13

Hands across the ocean:

a Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell, along with lightweight lithium-ion batteries, to power an electric motor, which is coupled to a conventional propeller. During takeoff and climb, the flight segment that requires the most power, the system draws on the lithium-ion batteries. The fuel cell will provide all power for the cruise phase of flight. At the peak of the plane’s power demand, its electric motor will

A cosmopolitan industry team helps Boeing develop fuel-cell-powered airplane

Francisco Escartí, director of the Boeing Research & Technology – Europe (BR&TE)

Members of the Fuel Cell Team in a discussion. From left, Elena Bataller, Jonay Mosquera, Nieves Lapeña-Rey and Fortunato Ortí.

Boeing Research & Technology – Europe in Madrid, Spain, has worked closely with its colleagues in Boeing Commercial Airplanes, its Spanish partners, and companies in Austria, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States to design and assemble the experimental Boeing Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane. The fuel-cell system used on the flight demonstrator was designed and built by the UK-based firm Intelligent Energy. The airplane itself is a Dimona motor glider, built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria. The Madrid-based avionics group Aerlyper performed airframe modifications, as well as the mounting and wiring of all components; SAFT France designed and assembled the auxiliary batteries and backup system; Air Liquide Spain performed the detailed design and assembly of the onboard fuel system and the refueling station; the Electronic Engineering Division of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (School of Industrial Engineering) collaborated in the design and construction of the power management and distribution box; post-integration bench testing is being conducted in a facility that belongs to the university; and SENASA (Spain) will provide a test pilot and facilities for flight tests. Other suppliers include UQM Technologies Inc. (United States), MT Propeller (Germany), Tecnicas Aeronauticas de Madrid (Spain), Ingenieria de Instrumentacion y Control (Spain), GORE (Germany), Indra (Spain) and Inventia (Spain).

operate on 45 kilowatts, half from the battery component and half from the fuel cell. “Given the efficiency and environmental benefits of emerging fuel cell technology, we want to learn all we can about how to apply it in our Boeing products,” Escarti says. “While Boeing does not envision that fuel cells will provide primary power for future commercial passenger airplanes, demonstrations like this help pave the way for potentially using this technology in small manned and unmanned air vehicles in several years in areas such as fire prevention, aerial photography and weather surveillance.” Escarti says the research also gives Boeing hands-on experience to complement other fuel-cell studies being carried out throughout the company. For example, Boeing researchers believe that fuel cell technology could be mature enough in 10 to 15 years for potential use in an auxiliary power system on a large commercial airplane. n

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Into the Green Wild Green Yonder Into the Wild Yonder

Nieves Lapeña-Rey, Environmental Technologies Team technical leader: “We are pioneering something new here.”

The team behind the technology Motivated by the challenge of balancing environmental concerns and the search for industrially viable processes and materials, project leader Nieves Lapeña-Rey joined Boeing Research & Technology – Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid five years ago. She brought with her strong industry and academic credentials in fuel cell technology development and chemical engineering. She says she has “thoroughly enjoyed” her assignment to research, develop and better understand aviation requirements for fuel cell technology integration in areas such as power density, safety, motion and vibration resistance. “I’ve been delighted by the opportunity to participate on this innovative and challenging project,” she said. “We are pioneering something new here – learning how to operate an airplane flying on pressurized hydrogen.” She says that she and her small team have been tested by the work of integrating the different subsystems in the demonstrator aircraft while maintaining its weight and balance. She also said managing the power contribution of two different power sources such as the batteries and the fuel cell, as well as managing the heat generated by the fuel cell, has been challenging. “I am pleased that we have reached this stage of the project and with the knowledge we have acquired as a team,” Lapeña-Rey says. “In aviation, weight is very important – so we have been very focused on reducing the overall system weight while also ensuring a safe operation with compressed hydrogen fuel and lithium-ion batteries. “The company’s willingness to promote fuel cells and fund programs like this one shows real foresight and a genuine commitment to the environment,” Lapeña-Rey says. Aeronautical engineer Jonay Mosquera performed fuel cell feasibility studies and thermodynamic analysis for Boeing Commercial Airplanes at the Technical University of Munich

in Germany before joining BR&TE four years ago. He has been in charge of the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project’s flight performance calculations and center-of-gravity definitions. He has also been responsible for installation of the equipment, design of the propulsion thermal management system, and the “pre-design” of the instrumentation panel and fuel system. “I am especially proud of our work in mounting all of the components inside the airplane,” Mosquera says. “At the beginning, it seemed as if it would be impossible to fit all of the components into such a compact space. Hard work and some imagination helped us achieve it.” Elena Bataller joined BR&TE two and a half years ago after obtaining engineering degrees in Spain and France, and industrial electronics experience at General Electric and Delphi. She has been in charge of the detailed design and test of the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane’s electrical system, including the airplane’s wiring design, as well as the power management and distribution box. “Work on this prototype has been extremely motivating,” Bataller says “We’ve had to integrate so many systems into such small space. I’m especially happy with the design of the power management and distribution box – work that required system-level thinking to identify all of the interactions in the power management.” “Working with this team has been exciting,” adds Fortunato Orti, senior technical advisor at BR&TE, who supervised Lapeña-Rey, Mosquera and Bataller during much of the formative stage of the project and who has been deeply involved in the design of the airplane. “We all have been very encouraged by this work and are excited about the challenge of making the airplane fly.”

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U.S. NAVY Photo

Lightning storms rage over the flight deck, lined with F/A-18s, of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis as the ship transits the Persian Gulf. Boeing field technicians often accompany the crews on missions that can last up to 10 months and are used to working in violent weather.

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Whoooa! Boeing technicians often have to weather extremes. They are blown about on carrier decks, risk their lives in explosive war zones, and work in blistering desert heat or freezing arctic cold. But they wouldn’t trade it for anything. By Bob Burnett

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eat, cold, wind, rain, mud, dust, danger. Boeing people sometimes work in the most inhospitable conditions. You’ll find them in every corner of the globe where winter’s desiccating winds chill to the marrow and summer’s pitiless dry heat sucks moisture from every pore. Where it’s so hot they can’t pick up a wench without being burned, or so cold their breath freezes. You’ll find them in hostile environments everywhere, in developing countries, on and under the sea, and in dangerous war zones. continued on page 18

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The Air Force calls it Balad Air Base. The U.S. Army calls it Camp Anaconda. Boeing field service representatives Ed Joslin and Domingo Lopez-Soto remember the sprawling Air Base 40 miles north of Baghdad as “Mortaritaville,” a well-earned sobriquet from the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They are among 600 Integrated Defense Systems field engineers, technicians and logisticians who support Boeing-built products at military units in far-flung places. When the units go to war, so do the field reps.

vehicles. Another destroyed a trailer two trailers away from the one Joslin lived in, wounding its occupant. “It bothers you, but you have to put it in the back of your mind and keep on working,” he says. “We had mortar attacks on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, sometimes three times,” says fellow field rep Domingo Lopez-Soto. “We wanted to continue supporting our customers, but we had to go to the bunkers and wait for the all-clear signal so we could continue with the mission.” Shawn Bittner says, “These folks are sometimes making the same kinds of sacrifices as the military. They are living the lives of their customers.” Fifteen Boeing field reps are deployed to Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq supporting Marine Corps CH46E Sea Knight helicopters and AV-8B Harrier II squadrons. “In the summer it’s 110 degrees in the hangar,” says Bittner, who recently returned from a year in Al Asad and now leads the CH-46 Sustainment Technical Assistant Team. “Outside, it gets up to 137 degrees. We had to wear gloves to handle the tools.” The Sea Knight’s primary mission is casualty evacuation. Keeping the helicopters ready to fly is not an option, Bittner says.

The heat of combat “We lived in tents, ate MREs (meals ready to eat) and we took a lot of incoming rockets and mortars,” Ed Joslin says of his first visit to Balad as a member of an Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter battalion that helped capture the base from the Iraqis. Soon after Joslin retired from the Army, Boeing hired him to be a Chinook field engineer. He returned to Iraq and experienced more incoming rounds, this time as a civilian. At Al Taji, only 16 miles north of Baghdad, a rocket struck the apron in front of the hangar where Joslin was working, damaging several aircraft and

John Nicholson (left), Boeing ScanEagle site lead poses with two U.S. Marine Corps officers, as a sandstorm bears down on their ScanEagle launch area at Al Asad Coalition Forces Air Base in Iraq.

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“People’s lives depend on it.” Seul Kim, a logistics specialist, and Chuck Fioccoprile, a field service representative, are embedded with an AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter battalion in Bagram, Afghanistan. Winter temperatures dip well below freezing, but by July they can expect searing heat, hordes of insects and sandstorms known as “onehundred-day winds” that blanket everything in a talcum of grit and turn grease into an abrasive. They work 12 hour days, seven days a week and sleep in their offices close to the flight line. “We’re available 24 hours a day,” says Fioccoprile. “Anytime an aircraft needs to go on a mission, we support it.” Dave Caraballo says, “When it rains it gets really messed up. There’s so much sand and dirt and it all turns into this slushy mud that sticks to your shoes and gets so heavy you can hardly walk.” Caraballo was the first Boeing field rep sent to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to support the C-17 Globemaster III for the U.S. Air Force. “We deploy wherever we are needed,” says Gus Urzua, vice president, Air Force Integrated Logistics at Integrated Defense

Systems. Besides Al Udeid, he said. field engineers are currently embedded with C-17 units in Ramstein, Germany, and Incirlik, Turkey, to support the Iraq and Afghanistan war efforts. Two years ago, Boeing sent 15 technicians to Bagram to recover a damaged C-17. They spent 70 days in the desert heat making temporary repairs so the plane could return to Boeing’s Long Beach, Calif., factory for permanent repair and redelivery. “It’s mandatory that you have water with you at all times,” says Tony Bentivegna, a logistics manager who has deployed three times to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, with KC-10 Extender units. Boeing has been supporting airborne tankers at Al Dhafra since the war began almost five years ago. “The best part is learning to appreciate the culture,” says Bentivegna. Boeing people are helping the Army, Navy, and Marines fly the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from land bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as from ships offshore. “They maintain it, they fly it, and they give the information to the military,” says Dave Boulton, Field Service program manager continued on page 20

In the desert, searing heat and sandstorms can blanket everything with a talcum of grit, and turn grease into an abrasive.

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U.S. NAVY Photo

Carrier flight decks are totally unprotected from the elements. Snow blankets the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman as crew members prepare for an ammunition onload. Boeing technicians, assigned to carriers, are familiar with such conditions.

continued from page 19

for Logistics Services at Integrated Defense Systems. ScanEagle is a low-cost Tier II UAV designed to gather intelligence and conduct long-endurance surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Boeing also provides technical support to Air Force AC-130U gunships, versions of the C-130 Hercules modified by Boeing to incorporate side-firing weapons and sophisticated sensors and fire-control systems.

Serving at sea Joe Punda and Mike “Monty” Montalbano are getting ready to go to sea – again. They and other Boeing field representatives have been supporting F/A-18E/F Super Hornet squadrons since the Navy introduced the fifth-generation strike fighter to the fleet in 2001. When their squadrons deploy with a carrier air group, the field reps go too. Punda, an airframe and power plant specialist, and Montalbano, an avionics and electronics specialist, are participating in squadron workups in preparation for their fourth deployment on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln since coming to Boeing

five years ago. Most cruises are for six months, but their first cruise on the Lincoln lasted a record 10 months. Their second deployment was extended to aid victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. “Being away from home is a way of life for me,” says Punda. “I’m used to it.” “It’s what I signed up for,” agrees Montalbano. They normally work 12-hour shifts. During flight operations, however, they are available 24/7. Although modern nuclear-powered carriers are air-conditioned, the giant hangar deck is drafty and the flight deck is totally unprotected from the elements. In 1998, when the Lincoln spent three months in the Arabian Gulf during the hottest summer on record, the flight deck reached 150 degrees Fahrenheit In other parts of the world, crews may be shoveling snow from carrier decks. Accommodations vary. Sometimes Punda and Montalbano are in a four-man stateroom with other civilian technicians. Sometimes they are in junior-officer or enlisted berthing areas with 15 or more men. They almost always have to share a washroom with dozens, even hundreds, of sailors. Because they are both retired chief petty officers, once in a while Punda and Montalbano find room in the ship’s chief petty officer quarters..

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Commercial Airplanes has more than 330 field service representatives throughout the United States and 143 locations abroad, providing direct onsite technical support to customer airlines. The field service representatives are Boeing’s first responders when a mechanical problem or mishap grounds a customer’s airplane. If the problem can’t be fixed with local help, the airline can call for an Airplane On Ground team. Boeing AOG teams are legendary for their swift actions. They will travel anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice to help customers get their airplanes back into the air – often from remote locations with austere facilities. “Our people have to be ready to go almost anywhere in the world on short notice,” says Frank Santoni, director of Flight Operations and Commercial Airplanes’ chief pilot. “Without them, we don’t do our tests.” Flight crews, engineers and ground technicians at Commercial Airplanes’ Flight Test travel to the ends of the earth to find suitably unpleasant conditions for testing new jets. They endure wind chills of thirty below zero in central Alaska or eastern Montana and roast in the blistering heat of the Mojave Desert or the Australian Outback. Sometimes, however, the most challenging conditions are right at home. “Changing all four hydraulic pumps on the Large Cargo Freighter in the pouring rain at (Seattle’s) Boeing Field can be tough,” says Mike Manning, Flight Test supervisor. Randy Black, Boeing logistics supAirport runways are port specialist, stands alongside one of the AH-64D Apache Longbow usually aligned for predominant wind patterns. attack helicopters that he and field service representative Ron Stephens But the wind doesn’t alsupport at Camp Speicher, north of ways cooperate, so evBaghdad. Two U.S. Army soldiers are ery certification program seated in the rotorcraft. requires testing in very high crosswinds.

A CH-47 Chinook heavy lifter transports vehicles into the field. Sand and heat present severe challenges to the technical crews who service both the aircraft and the vehicles.

At left, the Boeing Sustainment Technical Assist Team, pictured at the Al Asad Coalition Forces Air Base in Iraq last year, inspects and reconstitutes worn and damaged CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters for the U.S. Marines. The team (from left), Cody Schlomer, Arron Williams, Jason Pittman, George Cruz, James Word, team lead Shawn Bittner, Roman Iwanski, and Chuck Heartsill, sometimes worked in temperatures topping 120 degrees.

Photo by Cmdr. Don Bailey, U.S. Navy

Photo by Ron Stephens

Going to the extreme with jetliners

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Welcome to Keflavik, Iceland. “It’s always windy and the two runways are perpendicular to each other,” Santoni says. “We generally get a crosswind on one of them.” Sometimes cold-weather testing can be accomplished on the same trip. At Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert, where braking tests are conducted, ground crews change worn tires in summer heat and winter winds. But whatever the conditions Boeing employees love their jobs, find the work exciting and challenging and say that they wouldn’t trade working in the field for anything. n

BOLTBest ing for the

The Boeing Operations Leadership Team is a key part of ensuring functional excellence throughout the enterprise.

The 737 moving line in Renton, Wash., has become a Boeing model for production efficiency.

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By Daryl Stephenson

O

ne company. Common metrics, systems and processes. Replication of best practices. These are terms that one will hear often in meetings of the Boeing Operations Leadership Team, known affectionately by its members as the BOLT. Derived from an earlier Boeing Operations Council, the BOLT has been meeting quarterly for about a year and is charged with the mission of ensuring functional discipline and functional excellence throughout Boeing. John Van Gels, Integrated Defense Systems vice president of Operations and Supplier Management, is the current chairman of the BOLT. The BOLT’s executive sponsor is John Tracy, senior vice president of Engineering, Operations & Technology. BOLT members represent CommerJohn Van Gels: IDS vice cial Airplanes Operations and IDS president of Operations Operations, Phantom Works, SSG and Supplier ManageWorkplace Services, Quality, the Dement. velopment Process Initiative, and the initiatives of Global Sourcing Effectiveness and Lean+. The BOLT’s main instruments of ensuring functional excellence are Process Action Teams. These teams, composed of representatives from both Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Integrated Defense Systems, find out about best practices that produce significant savings and work to spread those practices elsewhere in the company. They also look at how to reduce

“By focusing on process commonality, we’ve been concentrating our process improvement energy to produce one best way that is better understood and widely shared.” – Barbara O’Dell the cost of information systems by making these systems more common with each other. “The Process Action Teams (PATs) have been around a long time and their focus has always been to generate best practices, ideas and systems – then work the issues together and share data,” says Van Gels. “Now they are continuing to work on replicating good ideas throughout the company. What the PATs receive from us on the BOLT are champions for those efforts.” Leaders of Process Action Teams update the BOLT during quarterly BOLT meetings. They talk about their successes, their setbacks, the amount of money they’ve saved the company, and indicate whether or not they need help. If a Process Action Team needs help, the BOLT will take action to provide it. “The BOLT is a key tool for how we’re working improve-

ments across the enterprise,” says Van Gels. There are 18 Process Actions Teams, arranged under three categories – commodities, assembly, and support. The commodities teams deal with composites, electrical and electronics operations, tubes and ducts, machining and advanced metal structures, chemical processing standards, and tooling. The assembly teams are for structure/join, system/integration/test, and field/ramp operations. Support teams deal with tooling services, lean, production control and material management, metrology, SHEA (Safety, Health and Environmental Affairs), industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, distribution, and procurement. Process action teams have saved Boeing Operations a considerable amount of money since the first PATs were formed in 1998. The cumulative total savings through the end of 2006 Barbara O’Dell: BCA (nine years) is just over $1.1 billion. In vice president of Manu2006, PAT savings amounted to $209.4 facturing. million. One of the first things the BOLT decided to do in fulfilling its mission toward functional excellence was to continue the PATs as key players in adding improvement ideas to the initiative data base and replicating ideas across Boeing. The PATs also have a major role in helping the BOLT meet its other objectives toward functional excellence – striving for commonality between BCA and IDS, executing on cost reduction challenges, ensuring functional discipline through reasonable program targets and helping to ensure that programs use processes and tools that are provided. “The PATs assist programs and functions almost like a 1-800 number,” says Steve Detter, who leads coordination and staff support for the BOLT. “They may not have all the answers, but they know where to go. They can pull in personnel from other functions to help out a program. An example is the composites PAT, which provided significant support to the 787 program.” The PATs, through their efforts to replicate best practices and ideas, are helping the company achieve the kind of commonality – through processes, metrics and systems – that will make it easier for programs in different business units and locations to assist each other when needs arise, says Barbara O’Dell, BCA vice president of Manufacturing. “We’ve been on a process management journey for some time,” she says. “It used to be that we had many processes intended to meet the same requirements. By focusing on process commonality, we’ve been concentrating our process improvement energy to produce one best way that is better understood and widely shared. “Being better understood means we make fewer mistakes, and that improves productivity,” O’Dell emphasizes. “Making these processes widely shared means we can maximize our investment in computing systems, documentation and training. The PATs have made outstanding contributions to process improvement and are now bringing that same knowledge and energy to commonality of documents and systems. They really demonstrate the power of being one company.” n

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Shirley Allen and Glenn Malcolm Each of them has a slightly different role, but they both play an important part in keeping the 737 moving line . . . well, moving. Shirley Allen is the manufacturing representative for the airplane’s final assembly support group at the Renton, Wash., 737 facility, and Glenn Malcolm is the functional test team leader for final assembly. “If something needs to be fixed, the team leaders, like Glenn, will usually take care of it,” says Allen. “But if they need more help, they will come to our support cell, ask us about it and then it’s my job to get the proper people to fix it within half an hour.” Malcolm’s team of seven mechanics tests the airplane’s systems but also reports problems when they occur. “We have a lot of pride in what we do,” says Malcolm. “We’re like a family around here,” adds Allen. “We depend on each other, we help each other out. I love my job.”

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Where

there’s a will . . .

Proving that there’s always a way if you have energy and persistence, Boeing employees are serving as an inspiration to others by getting the job done through teamwork. By William Cole

T

he principle of working together – managers collaborating with suppliers, technical employees communicating with customers, engineers consulting with shop floor assemblers – continues to turn Boeing into an aerospace powerhouse. “Engineering and Operations are no longer separated by distance and terminology,” says John Tracy, senior vice president of Engineering, Operations & Technology. “They and supplier management people are coming together all around Boeing to implement a common approach to technical challenges.” John Van Gels, Integrated Defense Systems vice president of Operations and Supplier Management, says, “We need to tear down the walls that divide us.” Operations, he says, wants to standardize processes, work and training. “We want to accelerate the Lean+ and the Development Process Excellence initiatives, we have to work as one team,” says Van Gels. “It’s starting. Recently some of our Integrated Defense Systems engineers and technical people went to Boeing Commercial Airplanes to support the 787 program in a time of need. Our engineers are living on the shop floor with our production people. Out in the field, our suppliers have become active members of our team. We are making a united effort to improve the way we do things, eliminate waste, simplify things, work to a standard set of metrics, and share ideas across the enterprise.” Meet some of the engineering, operations and technical people who are finding a way to streamline how Boeing designs, builds and delivers its products. continued on pages 26-33

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Joe Gannon He doesn’t just work on airplanes. Former Marine and hydraulics mechanic Joe Gannon thinks first about the lives of pilots and troops out in the field. So when he sees something that needs to be corrected on an F-15, he makes sure the job gets done. “When I was in the infantry,” he says, “our lives depended on the CH-46 helicopters that would pick us up. They had to work right the first time and all the time. For the same reason, we have to make sure that this F-15 operates perfectly 100 percent of the time.” Gannon leads a High Performance Work Organization, or HPWO, on the St. Louis shop floor. “We’re a team empowered to identify and solve problems. We work together to make sure that our Navy pilots can depend on our work for a flawless product.”

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Brenda Kerios The Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy was a defining moment for Brenda Kerios. “When I saw it happen, I knew I wanted to help to stop this from happening again,” says Kerios, now a technical analyst on the wing leading edge of the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She works on thermal protection for the nose and wings of the shuttle. Part Cherokee and Cheyenne, Kerios has found a way to use her Native American spirituality to solve technical challenges at work. “I believe in keeping things simple,” she says. “The solution generally follows more naturally. I feel that I am part of something really phenomenal at Boeing. I feel the pride around me. I absolutely love it here.”

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Ray McVey He’s worked on a variety of commercial and military satellites since the 1970s. And Ray McVey still tries to watch every rocket launch that carries his work into space. He is as enthusiastic today about designing and producing satellite mechanisms as he was when he started working for Boeing heritage company Hughes Space and Communications 28 years ago. “It’s still exciting,” he says, “to know that our work high above the Earth is helping to make these satellites perform properly.” A senior scientist at Satellite Development Systems in El Segundo, Calif., McVey designs and produces the high-tech devices that deploy and control moving components of a satellite such as solar arrays, thrusters and payloads. “I enjoy finding solutions, but it’s just as exciting when there are problems to find out why things went wrong. This is a great company. If you are an engineer, this is the place to be.”

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Keith Higashi When Keith Higashi enters a high-school classroom, the students listen. He’s there to encourage them to study math and science, stay in school and carve out a career. Higashi’s day job is managing a group of high-performing specialists who support Supplier and Materials Management teams at Integrated Defense Systems’ Global Mobility Systems in Long Beach, Calif. But in his spare time Keith Higashi is also known for his community work in the region. He’s a member of the local Youth Motivation Task Force, and he has devoted himself to persuading at-risk students to consider a productive life after high school. “Many of them come from less than desirable situations and have a rough life,” he says. “We also offer a helping and guiding hand, through the task force scholarships program to improved students. Many have gone from being F-students to A-students. I’m trying to give back to the community we all belong too.”

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Svetlana Spassova She has shown that anything is possible if you want it badly enough. As a child growing up in Bulgaria, Svetlana Spassova dreamed of working for the largest airplane company in the world, wherever it may be. “I knew when I was 13 years old that I wanted to work in aerospace,” says Spassova, a mechanical engineer who installs equipment on the 747 in Everett, Wash. “Now I am living my dream,” she says. It began when, to her surprise, she won an official lottery for a specified number of U.S. permanent residency visas. “I am so happy to be at Boeing,” she says. “I went from working on a small Russian two-seat aircraft to the 747. It’s an amazingly complicated and fascinating product. This has to be the best place in the world to work.”

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Beau Daniel Every day at around 6:30 a.m., Beau Daniel, director of Manufacturing for Weapons Programs in St. Charles, Mo, visits one of his six production areas. “You might call it managing by walking around,” says Daniel, who oversees the manufacture of Boeing missiles and munitions. Daniel is accompanied on these walkarounds by key members of his support team. “It’s quite valuable because it gives employees a chance to make suggestions and air any problems. It’s good for me too, because I learn a lot about the flow of work, any issues the shop is experiencing, and how I can help.” Good rapport, he says, is crucial to the success of the operation. Daniel discovered an interest in things technical when as a youngster he worked on his 1952 Chevy pickup.” I had to keep it running and I’ve always liked things mechanical,” he says. “Since then, I’ve been fascinated by the interaction between the guidance and control systems on our weapons systems.”

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Teri Finchamp When Boeing’s Joint Strike Fighter was not selected following a fierce competition and the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems program was restructured, it might have been a setback for anyone but energetic Teri Finchamp. She was St. Louis shop foreman and manufacturing team lead for both advanced aircraft. “You never forget the techniques and the technologies you develop for a program,” says Finchamp. “You incorporate everything you’ve learned into your next project,” She now has broader responsibilities as the manufacturing team lead for the UCAS-D, an unmanned vehicle under development for a U.S. Navy competition. “I keep my team inspired by letting them do their jobs,” she says. “But they know they can to come to me with issues or concerns. That’s my approach because that’s how I like to be treated.”

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Valeda Scribner When Orbital Express was launched three months ago, one person in the ground control center was Valeda Scribner, then working in mission operations for the program. Although she joined Boeing only four years ago, Orbital Express is just one of several major space projects in which she’s been involved. Scribner was a founding member of the Boeing Young Engineers Team and shortly afterwards led a regional talent show, which is being adapted at Boeing sites across the country. She is currently a liaison engineer at the Boeing Satellite Development Center and, she says, “I couldn’t be happier.” The leadership and teamwork experience she’s had serving with Employee Involvement teams and diversity groups have helped build her confidence on the job, she says. “I get to apply that, along with my passion for space, and my interest in solving problems to my work. I can truly say I love my job.”

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Bullseye! Future Combat Systems hits the ground running.

By Jay Spenser

I

n the western desert where New Mexico and Texas meet, a U.S. Army squad advances warily from building to building. These soldiers in camouflage battle dress are part of a mock combat exercise evaluating high-tech capabilities of Future Combat Systems (FCS), the Army’s transformational modernization program. Checking a building and finding it empty, the squad leaves behind an urban unattended ground sensor (U-UGS). The compact device will alert them if anyone enters this previously cleared structure, potentially posing a threat from the rear. Its availability means that a soldier no longer has to be left behind to protect his advancing comrades. Its numbers undiminished, the squad arrives at a windowless building. Instead of sending his troops into the unknown, however, the squad leader has a soldier send inside a small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV). Guided by remote control, this robot rolls inside and searches the structure. It is empty, but the SUGV’s live video feed reveals tripwires – the place is booby trapped! Had this been a real combat situation, the SUGV might have saved the entire squad. Nearby, a platoon leader and his sergeant establish a checkpoint after having their troops deploy tactical unattended ground sensors in the greater vicinity. When several of these T-UGS detect suspicious activity, the lieutenant orders a Class 1 unmanned aerial vehicle surrogate sent aloft to investigate. The barrel-shaped UAV, which can hover over the battlefield, sends back stabilized telescopic imagery identifying the source of the alert: in this case wildlife, but it could just as easily have been armed foes.

U.S. Army soldiers recently put FCS prototypes to the test in realistic field training. The results confirm that Army modernization is right on track.

continued on page 36

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Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle The Future Combat Systems (FCS) Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), developed in partnership with Honeywell, is backpackable and provides dismounted soldiers with unprecedented reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition capability on the battlefield. During Experiment 1.1 interoperability between FCS and current force systems was demonstrated when real-time video imagery taken from the Class I UAV was relayed into the cockpit of an AH-64D Apache multi-role helicopter during mock combat exercises.

continued from page 35

Futuristic field trials Scenes like these played out this past January and February during the third and final phase of FCS Experiment 1.1, an eightmonth test and verification effort that began in July 2006 with systems engineering integration work in the laboratory before migrating to the field for its second and third phases. The experiment marked the first integrated tests of some of the prototype hardware and software that eventually will be comprised in FCS, a network-centric system of systems that links soldiers, manned and unmanned ground and air vehicles, sensors and other assets in an integrated, information-rich battlespace. Boeing and its partner Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) function as Lead Systems Integrator for FCS. Integrated systems performance in a field environment was the focus of Phase 2, which was conducted at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range and Ft. Bliss test complex and involved engineers from Boeing, SAIC and FCS One Team partner companies. The culmination of FCS Experiment 1.1 was a live training exercise at the test complex involving Army soldiers who oper-

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FCS is a network-centric system of systems that will link soldiers, manned and unmanned ground and air vehicles, sensors and other assets in an integrated, information-rich battlespace. ated early prototypes of actual FCS hardware and software – including the equipment described above – in realistic combat scenarios. During these field trials, the soldiers also employed a fleet of stretched and modified Humvees that simulated manned FCS ground vehicles still in development. These vehicles, which acted as surrogate command-and-control vehicles, were equipped with early versions of FCS battle command software that provides soldiers with a single common operating picture of the battlefield, as well as Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radios to distribute information. Interoperability with other current Army systems, such as the Boeing-built AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter, was also demonstrated.

Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle Soldiers participating in a Future Combat Systems (FCS) Experiment 1.1 mock combat exercise use the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), developed in partnership with iRobot Corporation, for conducting operations in an urban environment to clear buildings and detect enemy combatants. These man-portable, robotic vehicles can be employed for high risk activities such as surveillance in buildings, tunnels and caves, or detecting explosive devices, without exposing soldiers directly to the hazards.



Soldiers rate FCS toolkit invaluable At this testing’s conclusion, the soldiers, many of whom were veterans of combat in Iraq or Afghanistan, proclaimed their networked FCS toolkit invaluable for high-risk activities. In addition to mitigating a spectrum of risks routinely faced by current military forces, these selected systems greatly increased efficiency and effectiveness. “I think the UAV is a great asset,” commented one soldier. “It’s up there. As we’re moving forward and we’re clearing one building, it can let us know, hey, this building over here – we have guys running toward you or running away to the next building. It can let us know what’s going on.” Soldiers also saw the immense value of the SUGV for surveillance in buildings, tunnels and caves, as well as for detecting explosive devices without directly exposing soldiers to hazards. I don’t know what this robot cost, but I know what the Army pays to equip and train a soldier, and there isn’t an amount of money you can put on saving the lives of soldiers by using robots like this one.

With FCS, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The UGS similarly drew high praise. “You put them up and don’t have to leave a soldier behind,” observed a squad commander. “The platoon sergeant can see, okay now, we have a hit here, we have an intrusion here. We can go back and investigate and that’s great. In fact, all these systems are priceless.” With FCS, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But as Exercise 1.1 shows, each of these parts is itself critical to safety and success in combat. Three planned spinouts of selected FCS systems will provide an early infusion of FCS capabilities in the current force. “Experimentation is critical to FCS program success and most importantly will help enable the early spinout of key capabilities to the current force in 2008,” says Dennis Muilenburg, vice president and general manager of Boeing Combat Systems and FCS program manager. “The successful completion of Experiment 1.1 further validates the progress and maturity of selected FCS technologies and demonstrated interoperability between FCS and current force systems.” Of course, the soldier’s opinion is the ultimate validation of FCS. After the exercise, one platoon leader said, “The bottom line is victory on the battlefield at much lower cost.” continued on pages 38-39

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Tactical-Unattended Ground Sensors Future Combat Systems (FCS) Tactical-Unattended Ground Sensors (T-UGS), developed in partnership with Textron Systems, provide soldiers with unprecedented situational awareness on the battlefield through improved target detection, location, classification and transmission among other capabilities. Equipped with acoustic, seismic and infrared sensors, T-UGS can be used to perform mission tasks such as perimeter defense, surveillance, target acquisition and situational awareness; and are currently among those FCS technologies slated for early spin out to the current force beginning in 2008.

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Urban-Unattended Ground Sensors Soldiers participating in a Future Combat Systems (FCS) Experiment 1.1 mock combat exercise place Urban-Unattended Ground Sensors (U-UGS) inside a previously cleared building to monitor its status and warn if it has been re-occupied by enemy combatants. U-UGS, developed in partnership with Textron Systems, provide a leave-behind, network-enabled reporting system for situational awareness and force protection in an urban setting, and are currently among those technologies slated for early spin out to the current force beginning in 2008.

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Boeing employees appear tiny as they look into the huge thermal vacuum chamber in Kent, Wash. The test facility played a key role in testing famous space vehicles in the race to the Moon, but its future usefulness is in question.

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Leveraging strategic facilities The Development Process Excellence Initiative is using lessons learned from the BCA experience to evaluate lab and test assets throughout the enterprise. Where appropriate, teams are disposing of redundant and unused equipment but leveraging those lab and test facilities across the enterprise that are of critical strategic value. The polysonic wind tunnel in St. Louis is one example of a key test facility that will continue to be used for enterprise tests. And Boeing is looking at the possibility of leveraging test facilities around the enterprise to conduct structural component tests for the P-8A Poseiden, a long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft and next-generation derivative of the 737-800, for example. Bill Schane: The ultimate goal Such tests would normally for Boeing is to reduce lab and be performed at Commertest assets by $100 million by cial Airplanes facilities in 2009. Puget Sound but those facilities are being used by the 787 Dreamliner program. Instead, the team is looking at test sites in Philadelphia, Huntington Beach, St. Louis and Integrated Defense System facilities in Puget Sound. John Pricco, leader of the DPE Initiative, sees the lab and test component as an important part of the overall initiative. “Development programs are significant users of our lab and test assets,” Pricco says. “New programs have requirements for a variety of equipment and tests to develop new technology, certify products and determine performance. The lab and test sub-initiative has a lot of potential to help these programs be more successful while using our assets more efficiently.” Bill Schane, program manager of the Lab and Test Asset Team of the DPE initiative, says Integrated Defense Systems has the goal this year of achieving a net reduction in lab and test assets. At the same time, Commercial Airplanes is ramping up its lab and test capabilities to meet the needs of the 787 Dreamliner and other programs. The ultimate goal for the enterprise is to achieve a $100 million net reduction in lab and test asset acquisition costs by 2009; acquiring important new assets while more than offsetting this through eliminating assets.

NICE

but how necessary? A team created under the Development Process Excellence Initiative is touring the company to evaluate how well its lab and test facilities are being leveraged. By Bill Seil

A

huge, cavernous thermal vacuum chamber in Kent, Wash. – two stories of glistening steel – was once an important part of the early space race. The manned lunar rover that bounced across the Moon’s landscape, and the lunar orbiter that took the first pictures of Earth from space, were both tested here. But the facility hasn’t been used since 2003. In St. Louis, a massive multi-ton “iron bird” used to test the hydraulics of the A-12, the U.S. Navy’s canceled carrier aircraft, has been gathering dust, and taking up valuable real estate, for 15 years. Now these once-priceless resources of aerospace history have become an expensive burden to Boeing. As a result, they are among a number of laboratory and test facilities being evaluated to determine whether they are still being well leveraged by the company. This enterprise-wide effort is being led by the Development Process Excellence Initiative with an aim to significantly reduce the cost of maintaining such unused or underused assets and to use those savings to invest in required new lab and test facilities, such as those being used in the 787 Dreamliner program. The effort is modeled, in part, on a successful cost-reduction program carried out by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) since 2001. During the post-9/11 downturn in the airline industry, BCA consolidated its own laboratory and test facilities. Cost savings were realized by eliminating waste and duplication via lab and test asset reductions, while maintaining needed capabilities.

continued on page 42

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no longer needed? The 787 Integration Test Vehicle (ITV) – the type of facility commonly referred to as an “iron bird” – was built on one-third the space previously occupied by the 777 iron bird. An “airplane” that never leaves the ground, the ITV is made up of actual components of the flight control and hydraulic systems as well as flight deck, avionics and maintenance systems; to ensure all the integrated parts of these systems work together seamlessly. While the 777 iron bird could only run one test at a time, the 787 ITV has three complete ship sets of airplane flight controls electronics and can connect to all or portions of the flight controls actuators and hydraulic systems concurrently. Additionally each test system can test with simulated hydraulic and flight controls actuators. As with the 777 iron bird, the 787 ITV supports both software and hardware integration to validate airplane level functionality prior to ground and flight operational testing. The 777 Iron Bird was dismantled and surplused in 2002 to make room for the 787 ITV, 787 Power Lab and Environmental Control Systems Labs. Some facilities, like wind tunnels, are difficult, time consuming, and expensive to build, so there is a clear need to evaluate a business case over a longer time horizon. Others have special strategic value. Schane notes that the company has a small high temperature test facility in St. Louis, the Arc Heater Facility, that was

There’s always a temptation to hang on to things that you’re not using now, but might need again some day. essential in the Space Shuttle’s return to flight. Over the years, there have been a number of efforts to consolidate and trim costs from lab and test facilities. They have had mixed success. When Schane asked his IDS lab and test colleague Bob Calkins to help lead the Lab and Test Asset Team, Calkins agreed – under one condition. He asked to be assured that it would be a sustainable program, and that a similar all-out effort would not be needed later on. Calkins says past cost-reduction programs have cut costs but haven’t established processes that ensures that efficiency is maintained. Some cost-cutting efforts have focused on floor space rather than the efficient use of assets. That has yielded only short-term results in many cases. This program begins, says Calkins, by identifying things you clearly don’t need “It may be stuff that’s sitting around in cabinets and not being used,” he says. “If it is redeployable, let’s put it to use and avoid buying more. If it is very outdated or has high repair and maintenance costs and low use, we’re better off getting rid of it.”

Some test facilities have a bright future. Bob Hilker, manager of Aerodynamics Laboratories in St. Louis (left), and Bill Schane look at a wind tunnel test model of a fully loaded F-15. The model is used in the Polysonic Wind Tunnel in St. Louis, which will continue to be an important test facility for the enterprise.

continued from page 41

Schane, who also serves as director of Test and Evaluation for IDS, notes, “There’s an ebb and flow to our business. BCA is at the point where it needs new assets for its programs. Our challenge is to make sure the business units have the right assets, at the right place, at the right time, at the right cost.” There’s always a temptation to hang on to things that you’re not using now but might need again some day. That makes sense in some cases, but Schane says it’s not a good strategy when dealing with costly business facilities and equipment. Regardless of whether an asset is fully depreciated, there are continuing costs. Even inactive facilities have tax, maintenance and utility costs. They take up space on company property and take up the time of employees. If a facility or asset provides capabilities that will be needed in future programs, planners must make decisions: Will the existing property meet future needs? Can some of the assets be redeployed elsewhere within the company where there is a current need? What types of facilities will eventually replace those that are

A well-executed program The Commercial Airplanes cost reductions after the September 11 terrorist attacks set a good example as a well-executed program, Calkins says. Next, similar changes must be made at IDS and Phantom Works, using clear goals and metrics. Emphasis will be given to “net acquisition cost,” retiring unneeded assets to offset the cost of new assets. Calkins says IDS faces different, possibly greater challenges than BCA did during its recent cost reduction program. For example, Commercial Airplanes facilities are, for the most part, centrally located in the Puget Sound area of Washington. IDS assets

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An unused legacy of the past. Bruce McIlroy, Test and Evaluations Operations manager in St. Louis, is pictured with the A-12 “iron bird,” a massive fixture used to test the hydraulics of the cancelled U.S. Navy aircraft and now no longer needed.

are based at various locations around the country. There are also a wider range of IDS programs, requiring a greater variety of lab and test equipment. And IDS, made up of several heritage companies, continues to reduce duplication resulting from the mergers. The company has three large thermal vacuum chambers, two located in California at Huntington Beach and El Segundo and one in Washington at Kent. The size, cost, and utilization of these facilities indicate that these are a potential cost-reduction opportunity. A part of the team is performing a study to determine if the capability exceeds the needs of the company’s satellite programs. This is an example of the process for matching capability to business unit needs. The team’s strategy involves both a business unit and regional focus. The IDS business unit is divided into four regions: Southern California; Puget Sound; Central (including St. Louis and Wichita) and East (which includes rotorcraft and launch vehicle sites, such as Philadelphia, Mesa, Houston and the Florida Space Coast). “One advantage to doing things by regions is you don’t have to invent all of the ideas yourself,” Calkins says. “Sites or regions can set up teams to trade ideas, leveraging ideas from other regions.” This effort will ultimately lead to the development and validation of unified company processes that manage lab and test assets, containing costs while meeting the needs of the business units. The transition won’t be easy, but reducing costs while maintaining quality and meeting schedules is a compelling reason to change. The Lab and Test Asset Team leading the DPE sub-initiative has been meeting for approximately one year. It is made up of rep-

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resentatives from each of the regions who attend group meetings and report on local progress and challenges. Each of the regions has its own team, which is specially structured to address local needs. Members include both technical specialists and other personnel, such as finance professionals. The team has made progress, eliminating more than $140 million of IDS assets while adding $108 million in new assets, without reducing capabilities required by the business unit. Now that the enterprise team is organized and proceeding to execute its plan, Schane will begin focusing for a time on benchmarking other companies, including a number outside the aerospace industry. Organizations he has in mind include automakers, hospitals and a pharmaceuticals company. He primarily wants to know how each manages its asset base. Boeing is very good at the logistics of moving equipment from place to place, and in the future testing will take place around the country, regardless where the product is being built. And while the Lab and Test Asset team is focusing on U.S.-based assets, global facilities must also be considered part of the mix. “Lab and test personnel are dedicated professionals who take their responsibilities very seriously,” Schane says. “That’s why they are now being asked to take the additional step of working together with teammates across the enterprise to help establish the most efficient and effective lab and test capabilities possible. With us all working together, I’m confident we’ll succeed.” n

Dustbusters!

How trusting employees and applying environmental innovation resulted in a better workplace.

By Lori Gunter

C

omposites are the material of choice for many commercial airplane applications because they offer increased strength, reduced weight and a resistance to the two factors that can compromise metallic structure – fatigue and corrosion. An additional benefit is that the material set itself continues to evolve as the composite manufacturing companies develop new ways to enhance the properties of their products. In 2004, an enhanced composite material was introduced on the 777 production line. It was a new version of the familiar material that had been used on the program from the beginning, known as BMS 8-276. The new version, BMS 8-276 Form 3, featured a tougher fiber and reduced cost. The new material was made using new production methods that allowed the manufacturer, Toray, to produce a greater volume of the product. This last element was especially critical as the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner development effort was requiring significantly more quantities of composite materials, as would the production program. Everyone involved in the introduction of the material believed it would be almost transparent to the team building the airplane. It was simply an improved version of the material already being used.

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A new composite is now being safely used on the 777 horizontal stabilator as a result of new procedures and equipment. Here, Joe Fletcher (at left), a Material and Process Technology Associate Technical Fellow, and Steve Magasis, a 787 Safety Health and Environment Affairs (SHEA) representative use a particulant monitor to ensure there are no environmental impacts during installation.

A message from the people in Moon suits But employees in Structural Composites at the Fabrication Division’s Frederickson, Wash., site did notice something different when they used the new material to build the 777 empennage. Initial reports focused on handling differences when drilling and sanding the cured form of Form 3. There were concerns about potential quality impacts and increased Foreign Object Debris (FOD). Other employees reported increased rates of skin irritation. These reports came to the attention of Joe Fletcher, a Material and Process Technology Associate Technical Fellow, who began to investigate. Health and Safety Institute (HSI) and Safety Health and Environmental Affairs (SHEA) personnel also began to look at the reports, and under the leadership of Arnie Chavez, Fabrication Division, SHEA Industrial Hygienist, additional dust-control, protective equipment upgrades and housekeeping efforts were introduced.

To further address the concerns, Everett personnel Rod Sigvartson, HSI Representative, and Steve Magasis, 787 SHEA representative, assisted 777 Empennage management in providing New Chemical Introduction training. Magasis recalls, “The first-shift training session was fairly routine. We handed out the Hazard Communication Information Sheet for 777 composite drilling operations and reviewed it with shop personnel. There was no reason to expect that the recent substitution of BMS 8-276 Form 1 with Form 3 would have any health impact.” However, when the second-shift crew arrived for training, two of the employees were wearing head-totoe “moon” suits and carrying respirators. Supervisor Elizabeth Wiens took the trainers aside and said, “Those guys are two of the best workers in my crew. They’ve had years of experience drilling BMS 8-276. “It’s always been a fairly dusty job, so they’ve worn respirators. They’ve never had a health or safety problem. But ever since we switched to the Form 3, they say they’ve been itchy all the time.”

were split, and were then analyzed by both an outside industrial hygiene laboratory and Boeing’s Particle Identification Lab. Both analyses further characterized the dust, and aided in the assessment of the severity of any potential workplace hazards. According to Magasis, the findings from both labs confirmed that dust concentrations were well below state and federal Permissible Exposure Levels. In addition, the information regarding dust and fiber shape derived from the findings matched the general descriptions provided to Boeing by the supplier. A deeper analysis of the general description confirmed that there was one difference between the two forms of the material. Form 3 featured a smoother surface, which in a cross-section view appears round. The earlier version of the material had a bumpy surface that appeared to have a kidney-bean shape in the cross-section view. While the difference did not impact the toxicology assessment, the itch reaction of shop floor personnel demonstrated that it was a noticeable difference, one that could be controlled with the new measures implemented by the team.

Action and innovation

Applying the lessons to the 787

There was no information available at that time to explain this type of response. But the word of experienced Boeing employees was all that it took for Boeing to launch an extended investigation that included SHEA, Boeing Toxicology, Boeing Medical, and Material and Process Technology. The team went looking for the reasons why Form 3 would cause irritation in employees who had significant experience in safely handing the earlier form of the same material. While the investigation continued, SHEA also identified new controls to help reduce exposure to the dust by-products of drilling and sanding BMS 8-276 Form 3. Kraig Penrod, Site Services, and Material and Process Technology’s Jim Deland and Matt Kesterson began to develop ventilation engineering controls to reduce FOD and dust levels inside the Empennage and surrounding shop. The team took three steps to address the employees’ concerns. First, SHEA worked with a safety equipment vendor to find a better protective suit for the employees. Simple design improvements like better sealed seams and the addition of wrist and ankle elastics made an immediate difference. Second, Site Services designed and built an improved vacuum to help isolate dust within the Empennage platform. Finally, Material and Process Technology introduced new prototype “integral exhaust” tools to extract dust as close to the source of its generation as possible.

The lessons learned on the 777 empennage have been applied robustly to the 787 program, which uses BMS 8-276 extensively for primary structure. All partners and suppliers have been advised of recommended control measures for handling the material – including the use of protective gear and the introduction of vacuum and ventilation systems. Program leadership also mandated that dust control measures capable of capturing air contaminants at their source or capable of preventing the generation of dust would be used for all 787 Boeing composite machining operations. In addition, Material and Process Technology engineers Matt Kesterson and Jim DeLand developed a new line of vacuum cutting tools and exhaust shrouds. Patent applications have been submitted for these inventions. The cutters, in combination with a modified drilling system, are capable of vacuuming the composite material as soon as the chip and/or dust is generated from the cutting edge, regardless of depth of cut. The system has a 99 percent collection capability. Additional benefits have been realized as a result of these tools. The instant removal of the debris also reduced the heat generated by drilling, enabling dry drilling (no lubrication), which helps to extend the life of the tools. Eliminating need the for lubrication also simplifies cleanup and reduces the requirements for aggressive solvent cleaning. Finally, Site Services’ Penrod led the development of a sophisticated dust-collection plan for the 787 operations. A team of Boeing experts worked with Donaldson Company to design and certify a portable dust collector unique to Boeing that could safely and effectively remove the dust gathered through the new vacuum cutting tools and shrouds. Portable collection devices of the size and type required – with proper certification – did not exist before this effort and are essential in implementing Lean operations without infrastructure “monuments”. “Working across organizational and program lines, Boeing people worked together to improve workplace safety and employee comfort, reduce FOD, and improve quality,” says Magasis. “It took real organizational integrity and technical expertise to change established processes and tools designs; but we did change them, because we valued the experience of our fellow employees. As a result, hundreds of workers around the world will have a better environment in which to build the 777, 787 and other composite structures.” n

Meanwhile, back at the investigation While solutions had been found on the shop floor, the experts still wanted to understand the cause of the reaction to the new Form 3 material. Development of Form 3 had involved two phases of extensive testing, including a Boeing Toxicology health hazard evaluation. Those findings indicated that the new Form 3 resin system was essentially identical to the resin used in the classic material, differing only slightly in the relative proportion of the components used. These differences would not be expected to have a negative impact on workplace health and safety. So, it was out to the factory and then back to the labs for the experts. “SHEA collected numerous air samples, most under worst-case drilling operations,” says Magasis. “The samples

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Lisa Wells, procurement agent for the Small Diameter Bomb program for Integrated Defense Systems in St. Charles, Mo., pictured with SDB carriage containers that she procured for the program from a supplier. “If you work with suppliers more as teammates, they feel more comfortable coming to you with problems early on – before those problems can become issues for the program,” she says.

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The increasingly competitive aerospace environment is changing the way procurement professionals are supporting their programs and leveraging Boeing buying power.

Going Shopping

BOEING S

T

Y

L

E

!

By Bill Seil

S

hopping isn’t as easy as it used to be. Wise consumers do a lot of research before traveling to an electronics store to buy a home computer system or digital media equipment. They may read reviews, compare products or consult with friends who have made similar purchases. They give thought to how they’ll be using the equipment – now and in the future. Corporations face similar challenges as products and the marketplace become increasingly complex. Supplier management professionals supporting Boeing programs have changed with the times, getting involved in new projects early and contributing ideas for leveraging the company’s purchasing power. continued on page 48

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continued from page 47

Bruce Lind, a procurement agent in Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ Global Partners, is currently supporting the 787 program working on common core systems. His focus is the integrated modular avionics computing system and network, which he describes as the “brain and spinal cord” of the airplane. Over the years, moving from project to project, his job has become increasingly challenging. “The job of procurement agent has migrated over the 29 years I’ve been with the company from one of a purchase order placer to that of a problem solver,” Lind says.

The company is taking a more disciplined approach to leveraging the purchasing power of its combined business units, driving down costs and improving quality and response time. In the old days, Lind would get requirements from organizations to acquire production parts or spares. His job was to process the paper. Today, working on the Dreamliner, a highly complex developmental program, he functions more as a manager working with counterparts across the organization. The procurement requirements for the 787 are very different from those of other commercial airplanes, Lind notes. In the Dreamliner program, large sections of the airplane are being built by business partners around the world, who are subcontracting for smaller parts. This new approach to working with suppliers changes Lind’s role. For example, part of his job is to make sure that all partners have common tools to operate consistently with the rest of the program. Changes are also taking place for procurement professionals working in Commercial Airplanes’ sustaining programs, though they are generally less dramatic than those involved with the 787. Tom Kornell, a procurement agent for landing gear in the 777 program, notes that Commercial Airplanes and Integrated Defense Systems have many of the same suppliers, so there is communications between business units when doing business with them. The company’s growth as a global industry also affects purchasing decisions. Technology is also providing better tools for supplier management, rapidly tracking parts as they enter and leave the system. Many of these changes taking place in the procurement function are supporting the company’s Global Sourcing initiative, which is one of four initiatives designed to accelerate long-term growth and productivity across the enterprise. The company is taking a more disciplined approach to leveraging the purchasing power of its combined business units, driving down costs and improving quality and response time. Keith Scott, an IDS employee based in Huntington Beach, Calif., is part of a new SM&P organization called Combat Systems’ Supplier Strategy (CS3). It is revising supplier management practices to strengthen SM&P’s role in supporting new business opportunities. By becoming more strategic and getting involved in programs early on, it is finding new ways to add value.

Bruce Lind, procurement agent for the 787 program in Everett, Wash.

“The job of procurement agent has migrated over the 29 years I’ve been with the company from one of a purchase order placer to that of a problem solver.” – Bruce Lind

Scott says this value generally comes in two forms – alignment and leveraging. It begins by aligning purchasing strategies across different programs and even between business units. They identify common suppliers and common types of products and services that are being acquired. “When we think in those terms, there are obvious benefits,” Scott notes. “Some of the primary advantages are reduced duplication of effort and piggybacking purchases to leverage our buying power.” Leveraging means getting better deals for individual programs by negotiating with suppliers as a single enterprise. Suppliers may be willing to reduce costs if they see an opportunity for a greater volume of business, or long-range business opportunities. Leveraging also means looking at the lifecycle of Boeing products and working with suppliers to find the most costeffective long-term solutions. This creates a winning situation for Boeing, the supplier and, ultimately, the customer buying the product. continued on page 50

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Going Shopping – Boeing Style

An important part of this strategic sourcing effort is having more direct contact with suppliers. Schaffer says the supplier management function has transitioned from arms-length contract management to relationship building. By engaging the company’s supply base – scheduling face-toface time – they have the potential to influence the company’s primary suppliers and the various businesses that support them. Another part is establishing greater collaboration between the business units and placing more emphasis on leadership skills and roles of supplier management agents (see Going Shopping – Boeing Style! on Page 46) Supplier management people must go broader than their own business units, he said. They must not only thoroughly understand the programs they are supporting, including the products themselves and the production systems that Ron Shelley says the company are used to create them, but also is working to create a competithe efficiencies and cost-savings tive advantage for the business that Boeing is trying to achieve at units by focusing on superior the enterprise level. The goal is to supply chain performance. build a value stream that extends from the factory floors and development centers across the company in the United States and overseas to deep within the supplier network. Ron Shelley, leader of the Boeing Global Sourcing Initiative, says the company is working to create a competitive advantage for the business units by focusing on superior supply chain performance. In part, this can be done by leveraging the company’s great size and buying power to create win-win situations with individual suppliers. Boeing has a growing need for supplier management experts who have outstanding networks both within the enterprise and the company’s supply base. Shelley says, “They are people who can quickly identify and solve problems that crop up within programs on a day-to-day basis.” The company has made great progress in establishing strong electronic connections with its many suppliers and partners around the world, according to Shelley. This frees up the time of procurement agents, and creates opportunities for new approaches to supplier management. At the same time, the company is working with suppliers to become leaner and adopt practices that have been successful within Boeing. “E-enabling allows us to streamline our processes, streamline our procedures and streamline our systems,” Shelly says. While these changes are creating a strong infrastructure for improved performance, it takes an engaged work force to make things happen. Through efforts such as the Global Sourcing and Lean+ initiatives, innovative changes developed by individual business units can be shared with other areas of the enterprise. Ultimately, success will come from combining knowledge and learning to work with suppliers as one enterprise.

Strengthening the chain: Supplier management – an enterprise effort. Supply chain management is not just about business unit performance anymore. It’s a critical one-company effort that will have a profound effect on Boeing’s determination to improve long-term growth and productivity. As Vice president and General Manager of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Global Partners Steve Schaffer is used to looking out for BCA. But as Engineering, Operations & Technology’s enterprise functional leader for supplier management, he and John Van Gels, deputy leader for the Steve Schaffer says, “We can enterprise Supplier Management no longer think of ourselves as function as well as being the EO&T individual business silos.” leader of the enterprise Operations function, are now concerned with companywide issues. “We can no longer think of ourselves as individual business silos,” says Schaffer. “While we’ve made some progress working across business units toward common processes and systems, there is even greater opportunity to be achieved by combining our efforts to have one Boeing face with our shared suppliers. It is about all the business units working in unison to create an enterprise supplier management strategy that improves the way we do business and ensures that all cost, schedule and quality goals are met.” Business unit supplier management leaders have been working together with initiative and EO&T leaders, to develop a functional framework for Supplier Management focusing on: - Common supplier management processes and systems for the enterprise - A standard set of enterprise supplier management metrics - A common approach to deploying Lean initiatives into the supplier base Schaffer, Van Gels and the enterprise Supplier Management team colleagues Dan Korte of Integrated Defense Systems, Jim Wigfall of Shared Services Group and Paul Pasquier of Phantom Works, are helping to bring a common approach to supply chain operations, contract management, shaping the supply base and leadership development. Among the special-attention focus areas for 2007, for example, is a joint effort by BCA and IDS teams to establish common guidelines with the company’s top four suppliers. The team is defining steps for a common contracting tool set, leveraging non-production procurement spending throughout the enterprise, and creating a raw material forecast and modeling tool. And it doesn’t end there. Schaffer and his team work closely with the Global Sourcing and other Boeing initiative teams to ensure that supplier management best practices and innovations are spread across the extended enterprise.

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Keith Scott, part of a new SM&P organization in Huntington Beach, Calif.

“Some of the primary advantages are reduced duplication of effort and piggybacking purchases to leverage our buying power.” – Keith Scott continued from page 48

This strategic role is helping to transform supplier management, says Scott. “Ten years ago, we were getting requisitions to buy things,” he says. “Now we’re managing our approach to the products and services we buy through an overall life-cycle focus and by broadening our relationships with suppliers for the benefit of all parties.” IDS is also using technology to reduce transaction costs, introducing e-commerce where appropriate. IDS procurement personnel also borrow ideas from their Commercial Airplanes counterparts to find private sector solutions for government cus-

tomers. This could include industrial investment in military projects, whereby the company assumes some of the risk, to produce greater profits down the road. Scott notes that the range of IDS projects is changing the supplier management business model. Network-centric technology and large-scale systems integration are playing an increasingly important role in meeting the needs of military customers. “This is a very different situation for Supplier Management,” Scott notes. “It has major ramifications for the services we provide, as well as the skill sets our people will need in the future. But by constantly looking for ways to add value, we’re finding solutions that didn’t exist before.” IDS is also benefiting from SM&P’s development of common systems and tools to use in its work. Following the mergers of the late 1990s, Boeing inherited multiple systems and processes for acquiring supplies. Each location tended to have its own way of doing things. That’s gradually changing. Paul Nesbitt, senior manager, Systems Solutions, SM&P, is based in St. Louis. His job is to identify tools and best practices that can be used by all IDS SM&P employees.

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overlaps in their supplier base and use many of the same materials. There is also a Boeing Enterprise Supplier Tool (BEST) that captures supplier management information for the entire enterprise. “It’s partly a matter of changing mindsets, looking for common denominators and developing systems that meet everyone’s needs,” Nesbitt says. The company’s needs are becoming far more diverse as the company explores new horizons. This requires purchasing equipment that is outside normal aerospace inventory. For example, Advanced Systems’ SBInet program is acquiring pedestrian vehicle barriers (large metal fence posts) to erect in the desert as part of the United States’ Secure Border Initiative. Cindy Womack is a procurement agent in the SBInet program, working out of Huntsville. During her 20 years with Boeing supplier management, she has primarily supported NASA and Department of Defense programs. Her new customer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has different needs. She now finds herself involved in surveys, environmental studies and road construction. “One major contract I coordinate is for the installation of border control barriers along the Barry M. Goldwater military range in Arizona,” she says. “Boeing takes the environment seriously. For example, we’ve built barriers with holes along the bottoms so horned lizards can get through.” Advanced Systems works in close collaboration with Phantom Works to develop cutting-edge technologies and products before they are turned over to production units. In addition to SBInet, it is responsible for Orbital Express, ScanEagle, the A160 Hummingbird and other advanced programs. Janell Bursac, director of SM&P for Advanced Systems, says her team of approximately 100 professionals works with highperforming suppliers to meet the needs of these programs, whatever they may be. Understanding these needs involves staying engaged with the company’s business development and engineering personnel. Supplier management used to be a more tactical profession – passing paperwork from person to person, according to Bursac. Today it involves getting out of individual silos and working across the supply chain. “Everything we do in Advanced Systems is typically new and developmental; we’re doing things that haven’t been done before,” Bursac said. “We’re challenged to get things to market quickly. It’s really a rapid environment that requires each of us to be adaptable, agile and creative in our approach to doing business.” Fortunately, Boeing is the kind of company where it’s always possible to find people with the right kind of expertise. Bursac’s team works with contacts across the enterprise to find needed advice. They look for strategies using enterprise resources that address the needs of Boeing customers and give the company an edge in the marketplace. “Today’s SM&P professional needs a good mix of technical knowledge and experience combined with solid business acumen,” she said. The demands on the aerospace industry for innovative new products and technology are growing at a rapid pace. Project teams will need people who have solid strategies for finding the best resources at the best price. n

David Bedner, procurement agent for the 787 program in Everett, Wash.

“The rate of change is accelerating. Things used to change really slowly, now they change so fast it makes your head spin.” – David Bedner

“We’ve made a significant amount of progress over the last couple of years reducing the number of procedures, reducing the number of independent systems and reducing the number of tools that are used by each of the sites.” Today, IDS has six sites on a single procurement system, with plans to have the rest of IDS transformed by the end of 2008. They’ve gone from more than 1,000 site procedures and processes down to a common set of just over 200. It has been estimated that reducing supplier management tools within IDS could save as much as $100 million over the next 10 years. Nesbitt and his colleagues are also talking with their counterparts in Commercial Airplanes to develop common processes and tools between the business units. One challenge is regulatory differences between government and commercial programs. But this is diminishing somewhat as the military becomes more open to private-sector solutions. Nesbitt notes that military and commercial programs have

For more stories on how Boeing is working with its suppliers, please see the July issue of Boeing Frontiers.

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PORTRAIT FCS System of Systems Integration Laboratory team

We’re proud to be part of the Future Combat Systems (FCS) One Team, a best-of-industry collaboration that brings together 23 first-tier suppliers and our customer, the U.S. Army. The scale and complexity of FCS demands lean, robust systems and a strict adherence to best practices. Above all, functional discipline is required to ensure technical integrity and program execution. And functional excellence is something that we at the Integrated Simulation and Test, (IS&T) Integrated Labs pursue every day. Our mission is to integrate simulations across dispersed users in the FCS program by establishing the System of Systems Integration Laboratory framework and providing detailed interface. At the integration lab in Huntington Beach, Calif., we provided the critical platforms and lab administration that led to the demonstration of key capabilities during real-world FCS exercises. Other FCS colleagues integrate and install critical hardware and software to link air and ground vehicles – such as this modified Humvee – with the network. Who is our most important customer? The soldier in the field. That’s why we go all out to leverage new products and services that will protect men and women in uniform.

From left to right

Ha Dinh

Michael Chong

Scott Vo

Steve Jarvis

Software Engineer

Software Engineer

Software Engineer

Applications and Systems Generalist

DeeJay San Pedro

Shailesh Damania

Electrical Engineer

Applications and Systems Generalist

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Phu Le Software Engineer