Transnational System Means No More Excuses

Representatives with Airbus tell ANN the European planemaker's management team recently completed a series of briefing sessions at its major sites in Toulouse, Hamburg, Filton and Gefafe -- and via world-wide video-conferences -- dedicated to present and explain the details of the fully integrated and transnational "New Airbus" organization, which went live on October 1.

So... what does the "New Airbus" have in store?

"The New Airbus organization is a strong enabler for more and better integration, cross-border collaboration, faster decision-making and harmonized tolls and processes," said Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders.

Digging beneath the PR-speak, what Enders means is from now on, starting with the planemaker's upcoming A350 XWB program, Airbus will have one group lead for each major subprogram -- instead of the previous system, that saw managers from each country in the aerospace consortium involved in platforms such as wiring, fuselage design, and engines.

As ANN reported, the previous system was partly to blame for the most recent delay in the planemaker's A380 superjumbo program... caused by wiring systems that did not match up between fuselage segments designed and built by different plants... each flying a different flag out front.

The new program reduces the number of national "Centers of Excellence" from seven, to four trans-national entities... a move Airbus says will reduce many layers of bureaucratic and nationalistic clutter, leading to clearer accountability and faster decision-making processes.

"The new leaner and more efficient organization is a key contributor to the successful implementation of Power8," said Airbus COO Fabrice Bregier, speaking of the massive restructuring program now underway at Airbus.

FMI: www.airbus.com