Each team was responsible for a particular element and included personnel from all disciplines: design, manufacturing, operations, procurement, customer support, as well as customer and supplier personnel. The typical team consisted of 15 members and met every few weeks to monitor progress and discuss problems. Boeing quickly discovered that dividing people into teams does not assure the success of the working together concept. Teams must have leaders to guide the process toward a decision. Many teams were great at discussion but never arrived at a conclusion.
From the beginning there was a feeling that a critical element of design was to get input from the customer into the design process, to get the engineers into direct contact with airline personnel. One of the goals was to find out directly from the gate mechanics the information they need to efficiently service the plane. Teams were formed and sent to talk directly with airline mechanics and service personnel and get their point of view on the designs. Two examples of the knowledge gained from the field illustrate the value of this process. In one of the electronics bay there is light directly in the center of the ceiling. One of the mechanics pointed out that whenever he is in there and leans over to check an item, he blocks the light and must always have a flashlight to see. The simple solution was installing lights at the corners of the enclosure. Another example came when the team had opened a lower hold to check on a part and discovered thousands of small salt packets that had fallen off of food trays and found their way down below the passenger compartment. The combination of that salt and moisture condensing on the inner skin of the aircraft produced a salt water bath splashing about on the inside of the aircraft. One of the issues that Boeing is still struggling to solve is how to get valuable field service data into the design process.
Originally developed by Shadd Shokralla
