Boeing needs to learn from its failure to manage a modern supply chain for the 787.
That was the crux of Flight International's editorial comment in mid-November on Mike Bair's admittance that the firm's strategy for dispersing the 787 supply chain was "problematic".
This week Flight International published a letter in response to this from Yvonne Leach, Boeing's 787 director of communications.
BELIEVING IN THE DREAMLINER
Your 11 November editorial, Boeing should think global but act local contains unfortunate misrepresentations of Boeing executive Mike Bair¹s comments at the Snohomish County Economic Council on 31 October.
It is important to clarify that in his remarks, Bair strongly emphasised the company¹s belief in the 787 Dreamliner¹s global production model, and that the lessons learned will position the Dreamliner for success over the long life of the programme. Unfortunately, those comments were not included in the only two news stories written by reporters who actually attended the event.
In addition, Bair did not indicate that Boeing had made any decisions regarding the structure or location of future airplane production programmes.
Given that Flight International did not attend the event, we are disappointed that the Flight editorial staff did not contact Boeing before publishing this editorial.
If we had been contacted, we would have reaffirmed one of Bair¹s key points that while we are learning key lessons in managing the 787 global supply chain, we believe the 787 global production model is the right solution for meeting a global market need.
Yvonne Leach
Boeing 787 Director of Communications
Everett, Washington, USA
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