While aircraft manufacturers have encountered delays before, those were usually about integrating new designs and assembly methods rather than the scale of production. Increased demand has challenged jet makers’ supply chains to keep up, leading to shortages of crucial components such as engines and wing assemblies. Airbus and Boeing are scheduled to deliver 1,830 passenger planes by 2020, a 45% increase from 2013. Boeing expects to deliver a record 800 planes this year on the way to producing more than 900 units annually by 2020. This is causing airplane manufacturers to manage farther down the supply chain to ensure smaller suppliers have the resources and technology to support surging demand. Boeing has invested in helping suppliers beef up production including technology to monitor performance while Airbus considered slowing production of single-aisle design to allow engine makers, like supplier Pratt & Whitney, to catch up but didn’t want to slow down suppliers in other segments.
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