Production Line Can be the Firms Competitive Advantage too ...AirBus VS Boeing

Major structural sections of the A380 , the largest aircraft, are built in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Due to their size, they are brought to the assembly hall  France by surface transportation and some by aircrafts. Components of the A380 are provided by suppliers from around the world; the five largest contributors, by value, are Rolls-Royce, Safran, United Technologies, General Electric and Goodrich.

This pic shows the logistic sequence of AirBus 380 (source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380)


On Other side of the spectrum we have Boeing which follows Centralized production method and moving line assembly line.

Thus Airbus uses Scattered Global Production Technique. Karan has fantastically jotted down all the points in his post leaving me nothing more to contribute. LOL. Anyways I’ll try to put my own analysis .Maybe some points will overlap.

• Logically speaking, its very insane to keep Moving Line assembly for Aircrafts like Boeing. Because it a large Aircraft .We are not talking about Automobiles here.  Moreover Large Factory setting is required for the same. Machinery and raw material has to be brought to the factory. Thus this all increases cost of production because there is high use of logistics. Also there is fear of safety of the plant hence the manufacture of the Boeing itself. Anything happens to the Plant, the entire manufacture has to be stopped.
• Because of scattered production of each part of Airbus, we can select firms which are specialized in doing the particular parts. Moreover each part will be undergoing its own Quality check at the place where it is manufactured also in the assembly place before it is joined. Thus dual Quality check is possible which is highly important in case of huge transportation carriage like AirBus. The safety is of prime importance. Quality is assured. The Airbus 380’s operating costs are cited at around 15 to 20 percent lower per seat. Add to this claims of fewer emissions, less noise, and a seat capacity stretching from the median 555 to a staggering 800 (double the heaving bottoms on a B747), and it’s small wonder airline accountants are beaming. Airbus claims its plane is more fuel efficient than a car. (source: http://www.smarttravelasia.com/AirbusVsBoeing.htm)
• No need to establish huge Plants like Boeing. Since it the entire aircraft doesn’t have to move on the assembly line. It follows FIXED PRODUCT LINE. Does the land cost has reduced. Individual parts are manufactured in separate areas and transported .Thus it only involves transportation of parts to assembly plant. It will reduce the total operating cost.
• In case of demand are high, Boeing manufacturers will have high pressure. Because they have to do achieve all in the same plant. They can’t afford to go wrong in any move else they fail to meet the targets. But in the case of Airbus, the workload is divided. Hence the workers and employers may not suffer for workload as they do in Boeing.
•  The Most Important Point is in case of Boeing, the suppliers may have advantage over you. They know what your production levels are. In case when you want more materials, the suppliers can bargain with you .Hence leaving you high and dry.  But in case of AirBus, since separate parts are done by separate manufacturers. They don’t have much idea what is the happening in the actually in assembly parts. Moreover if suppliers start bargaining, the buyer can shift to any other firm since it’s the matter of one part to be made. Thus Buyer has the bargaining advantage.  
• Having said this it does not mean that Scattered production has not drawbacks. The main problem or hindrance in such method is managing all the production units. All the manufacturing firms must produce the parts at the same time or whatever the time is allocated. Different manufacturers will have different methods of production hence aligning and managing all the plants become a bottleneck. Moreover the material used for all parts by all different plants should be of same standard. Hence quality check becomes vital.

Well in the end ,what we can conclude is that production line also plays vital role in working of the organization. A correct and smartly fitted production technique and be your Firm’s COMPETETIVE ADVANTAGE.

CHEERS

RMN
Remin