Airbus SAS (Airbus)

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products for its customers. Customers are only allowed to customize the details on the fix design of the products.

Thirdly, the organization and human resources are heavily emphasized by John Deere. Empowered work teams are utilized in the company, with workers having work time flexibility. John Deere believes that good teamwork improves the company’s responsiveness to various uncertainties in the market condition.

Fourthly, John Deere depends heavily on modern computer technologies to improve the work quality and decrease the resources wasted on communication. The integration of information systems on all its manufacturing facilities and its suppliers promotes correct and prompt response to customer needs. Furthermore, the modern computer aided design and manufacturing systems are assisting the company to correctly respond to market demand, while the integrated planning systems are assisting the company to improve its responsiveness. (Vazquez-Bustelo, 2006;

Chinnaiah et al., 2000; Deere & Company, 2014)

3.4 Airbus SAS (Airbus)

3.4.1 Overview

With coordinating to compete with United States monopolized aerospace industry in mind, Airbus was established by the European Union, consolidating the scattered and uncompetitive European aerospace industry. The company currently operates 16 manufacturing facilities across the Europe, famously known for producing passenger aircrafts. The company offers products span over the entire spectrum of aircraft’s market demand, from the biggest airplane in the world with

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more than 800 seats, to the small-sized commuter airplanes with less than 100 seats.

(Wikipedia, 2014; Hoovers, 2014; Airbus, 2014)

With the company’s original mission to break Boeing’s domination of global aircraft manufacturing industry, Airbus finally successfully outnumbered Boeing in orders and aircrafts delivery since 2003, 30 years after the company was founded.

(Wikipedia, 2014; Hoovers, 2014; Airbus, 2014)

3.4.2 History and Significant Developments

The most notable characteristic of the Airbus that distinguishes Airbus from other traditional aircraft manufacturers is its scattered supply network. While Airbus, like other aircraft manufacturers, owns and operates the production of critical components, Airbus was forced to distribute its production facilities across the entire Europe due to the intention the company was established, and the social responsibility the company carries. This situation increases the company’s difficulty in coordinating the already complicated supplying network. Airbus actually resolved the problem by incorporating strong information and communication systems, allowing the company to design and manufacture at separated places, and assembly at fixed assembly facilities. With Airbus’s success in establishing such a mobile manufacturing and assembly network, this kind of production and assembly practices is now tested and implemented by Boeing in producing its next generation 787 aircrafts. (Wikipedia, 2014; Reference for Business, 2014; Airbus, 2014)

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3.4.3 Agile Conducts Under Agility Strategy and Framework

Airbus is a powerful, unified company, whose customer orientation, technological leadership, and manufacturing efficiency have placed it in the lead of the aircraft manufacturing industry worldwide. Airbus currently secures over half of the worldwide orders for commercial aircraft and is a prime example of industrial cooperation.

Airbus’s modular concept ensures that all its products share the greatest possible number of common components, providing key advantages for both Airbus itself in decreasing the manufacturing complexity and for its customers in maintaining the aircrafts.

Airbus’s unique production flow line is evident when each of its manufacturing facilities produces a complete section of the plane, and then all of the sections are transported to a final assembly center to put all the sections together. This production method is based on the concept of “centers of competence”, with each center responsible for researching, developing, material selection, testing, certification, and manufacturing.

Airbus’s competitive environment is highly dynamic with moderate level of competition. Airbus has adopted agility practices to encourage the flexibility, quickness, and efficiency in responding to its environment, especially with a strong competitor as Boeing.

Firstly, Airbus outsources the production of low technological components and low value-adding activities to allow the company to concentrate on the development of its own competencies, allowing each production center to truly become the center

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of excellence in its core competency. Furthermore, when it comes to special components with extraordinary entry barriers, Airbus establishes collaboration agreements with specialized manufacturers. By securing and maintaining close linkage with these manufacturers, Airbus would be agile enough to introduce products in response to the change in market demand.

Secondly, while agility stresses the idea of flexibility, Airbus especially concentrates on the flexibility of its people and manufacturing tools. The flexibility of people is evident by the company’s established corporate culture, allowing qualified workers complete decision rights over their own work and tasks.

Furthermore, Airbus strongly emphasizes the importance of flexible tools. By careful coordination of the product designing phase, Airbus allows the same tool be used cross product lines, while the same tool could only be used on one product in the past. Moreover, by introduction the Flexible System for Securing Pieces in Space, Airbus successfully allowed all of its equipment to work integrally, preventing the possibility to design and produce tools that are used only on one part.

Thirdly, Airbus designed an integrated and concurrent system, connecting from the design phase, development phase, to the actual manufacturing of its product.

The system offers real-time collaboration and communication on the development of aircrafts that connects the customer to the Airbus’s value chain. Promoting communication during the early stage leads to more effective working practices, shorter development times, allows verification from both sides at early stage, and ensure that the product design could be correctly manufactured and assembled. In other words, the system improves the speed in producing the prototype, improves manufacturability, and promotes knowledge be transferred.

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Finally, Airbus also pays great attention to the utilization of modern computer technologies, especially the computer aided design and manufacturing and such integrated information and planning systems as MRP, ERP, EDI, and so on. The implementation of computer technologies facilitates Airbus in coordinating internal and external resources, especially when Airbus’s supplying network spans throughout the Europe continent.

Airbus truly distinguishes itself from other companies in the same industry.

The above agility practices implemented and mastered by Airbus, along with the application of organic organizational structures and management systems, led Airbus to outcompeting Boeing and not only became the biggest aircraft producer but continuously introducing products to fulfill the market demands. (Vazquez-Bustelo, 2006; Airbus, 2014)