How Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner Broke Its Own Supply Chain

The Operations Podcast with Fexingo: Process, People, and Profit in Modern Business · May 25, 2026 · 5m · transcript

In 2007, Boeing launched the 787 Dreamliner with a radical plan: outsource 70 percent of the aircraft to global partners and assemble the rest in Everett. The result was years of delays, billions in cost overruns, and a hard lesson in operations management. Lucas and Luna break down what went wrong — from the titanium shortages at Mitsubishi Heavy to the fastener crisis that grounded the program — and what Boeing’s recovery teaches us about coordination risk, tier-one supplier dependency, and the limits of vertical disintegration. They also explore how Boeing eventually regained control…