***WARNING - THIS BLOG IS ABOUT TO MAKE A REALLY RIDICULOUS AND UNFAIR COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO COMPANIES THAT ARE IN SUCH UNRELATED BUSINESSES, THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE SELLING BOOKS AND AIRPLANES.***
I started buying books from Amazon in 1996. But for a brief period a few years ago, when I was mad at Amazon for something (I think it was getting gouged on shipping charges by one of their independent merchants), this company has consistently provided great prices, great customer service and a tendency to under-promise and over-deliver. For example, Amazon says that something will ship, for free, in 8-10 days and then it shows up three days later.
Contrast that with Boeing, which today announced yet another delay in the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner jet.
This airplane is arguably one of the most anticipated in the history of commercial aviation. Boeing adopted a totally new development and manufacturing model that involves outsourcing various parts to manufacturers around the world and then assembling them in Seattle. Thus far, this has proved to be an unmitigated disaster.
Boeing customers (the airlines) are getting pissed off at the delays and investors are getting antsy.
Most important, though, is the message this sends to the ultimate end-user of Boeing products - the flying public.
The 787 has been so fraught with delays and problems, you have to wonder about the pressures within Boeing to get this thing out the door.
Of course, any flight certification will only come after rigorous testing and government approvals. Boeing is truly one of the great companies of the world and eventually this plane will fly and people will accept it just as they do any other airplane.
But maybe Boeing needs to take a page from its Seattle neighbor Amazon's playbook. That is - stop this death by a thousand cuts and just come clean with everyone - customers, investors and the flying public. Get all the bad news out at once and maybe pad it a little toward the negative.
Then, you can come in ahead of this worst-case scenario and get on with building great planes and kicking the crap out of those annoying French over at Airbus.
(Image: Boeing)
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