Boeing to Limit Dreamliner Outsourcing

Businessweek reports::

Boeing (BA), beset by repeated snarls that have delayed commercial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner into early 2010, is rethinking the global outsourcing model that critics say has caused much of the nearly two-year holdup. The company is making plans to bring more work back in-house.

Frustrated by production and design snafus that Boeing engineers say have led the company repeatedly to send staffers out to suppliers to iron out difficulties, the company's top executives are suggesting they will rely less on their outside suppliers. While the forthcoming version of the Dreamliner, the 787-8, may be affected by the plans over time, efforts to scale back on outsourcing are expected to be more aggressive on future versions of the plane, especially the 787-9, scheduled for delivery in 2012.

Boeing, which had originally planned to put its first 787 into the air in August 2007, now expects the initial test flight by this coming June. Customers, many of them irked by the delays, should take delivery on the first version in the spring of 2010.