Since its merger with McDonnell Douglas, Boeing has invested heavily in research and development on the defence and space side of the business, with programmes such as the Delta IV launch vehicle. Now the investment pendulum is about to swing toward the commercial aircraft side, says chief technology officer Dave Swain. "For the past five years, we have invested in Integrated Defense Systems," he says. "The next five years will shift to Commercial Airplanes."
The main reason is the planned launch of the 7E7. While the business units are responsible for prioritising their R&D spending, the role of headquarters is to "question and challenge - are we investing our resources in the right places?"
Swain's task is to improve Boeing's business performance through technology. Phantom Works, the centralised R&D organisation formed after the merger, reports to him, as do Connexion by Boeing and Air Traffic Management (ATM). He acts as adviser and critic in "areas of great opportunity and great risk", such as the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS), the Future Imagery Architecture spy-satellite programme for the US National Reconnaissance Office, and the 7E7.
To Swain, winning the US Army's $13.5 billion FCS programme was a demonstration of the "new" Boeing's capability. "FCS was clearly something Boeing could do. But Military Aircraft &Missile Systems [A&M] did not know what to do. Space & Communications [S&C] did not know what to do. Phantom Works looked across A&M and S&C and saw that Boeing could do as good a job as anyone."
Competition for internal R&D resources is one reason ATM and Connexion were set up as separate business units. Swain believes both are on target to meet their objectives, despite the downturn in commercial aviation. If they succeed, others may follow. "We would like one to mature before we start another, but we should have a couple all the time in addition to the major businesses."
Ideas for new businesses are created through the Chairman's Innovation Initiative (CII) and Boeing Ventures. Under the CII, employees are given the resources to validate their ideas, which could then be fed back to the business units or spun off with Boeing as the "angel" investor. The company also works with venture-capital firms to invest in outside innovations, to secure access to key technologies.
Ideas are key to improving Boeing's business, says Swain, but he admits it is a challenge to motivate the workforce during a downturn. "We need to get employees to understand that this is a high-technology company, that this is still the highest technology business there is, and will remain so."
Source: Flight International
