Frequent Failures Encountered by Airbus A380 - Case Study Example

Airbus A380 Introduction This study seeks to establish the reasons behind the frequent failures encountered by Airbus A380, which is the biggest airline of the 21st century. In 2005, when the first airbus A380 was unveiled to the public, it went to record as the largest passenger flight ever designed on earth in the 21st century.A380,designed by Dreamliner boasts of the a double deck capable of carrying 800 passengers(Verghese,2014). Although the airliner came into the market in style by surpassing all the planes present, it also had its own share of problems. Hardly had the company finished a year after unveiling the mega project when complains about the Dreamliner began arising; this later resulted to the grounding of all A380 globally. This was after the emergency landing made by Quantas airline in Singapore Airport after the plane developed complications of fuel leaks and an engine problem (Irving, 2010).Recently, Singapore airlines also made an emergency landing at Baku airport while on its way to Singapore from London(BBC News, 2014). Due to this, A380 grounded all its planes since it was appending disaster and could result to massive loss of lives if fast action was not taken to settle the issue. Singapore airline, since its foundation in 1972 has risen to become one of the best airline companies in the world (Singapore Airlines, 2014). Singapore airline, which began its journey as a regional airline is recognized as a global company not only because of its world class service to its customers but also because of its dedication in ensuring that it provides quality returns both to employees and shareholders(Singapore airlines, 2014). According to a journal from Wall Street, the airbus problem was not technical, rather it was because of the poor management strategies between the two companies that not only stagnated production but also slowed down critic decision-making programs (GPS, 2009). Wall Street’s journal was echoed by business week newspaper that also accused the top management for poor communication techniques during production that not only resulted to delay of deliveries but also massive loss of capital (GPS, 2009). According to business week, lack of communication resulted to the usage of different softwares during production of wiring harnesses. The usage of different softwares by two companies designing the same product was enough proof that there was no coordination, which normally begins from the top by managers then goes down the hierarchy all the way to the bottom where the workers and assemblers rank. These continuous accusations saw the resignation of Gustav Humbert, the CEO of Airbus in 2006. Apart from identifying causes of the frequent complications, the research will also state the some of the actions that ought to be embraced in order to minimize or curb the occurrences that could eventually result to a catastrophic massive loss of lives. The study will also incorporate some management theories that need implementation for proper running of the Company such as Integrated and Adaptive Structuration theories that involve the creation and production of social systems in relation to agents and structure irrespective of primacy (Schwandt & Szabla, 2013, p.12). Singapore airlines will be the case study because apart from being the first to acquire airbus A380 before other airlines such as fly emirates and Qantas followed suit, it is also the recent airline company to experience A380 failure. Literature review Apart from being the first company to introduce inflight telephone via satellite in 1991, Singapore airlines also set a number of trends such being the first in offering free headsets to customers and free drinks during the trip. The company also went to record as the first to fly the A380 airbus from Singapore to Sydney (Singapore Airlines, 2014).Apart from passenger flights, Singapore airlines also offers cargo transportation. The company’s cargo section makes 900 trips on a weekly basis by travelling to approximately 30 nations around the globe (Singapore Airlines, 2014). The company is also known for its proper project management team, which ensures proper communication between departments by embracing some communication theories such as Integration management system (IMS) and Adaptive Structuration theories. Adaptive structuration allows companies to be aware of how the company’s structural innovations penetrate in the society (Zanden, 2009, p. 25). On the contrary, Adaptive Structuration theory(AST) theory assists company project managers view the progresses within an organization and make amendments where necessary(Codita, 2011, p.33). Problems of the Airbus A380 began surfacing in 2005 when two top nations, Germany and France began blaming one another due to the delaying of deliveries (GPS, 2009).Blame games escalated after the failure of the wiring harnesses when the plane was in the final stages of assembly in Toulouse (Clark, 2008). According to GPS, the wiring harnesses, which were produced by Humburg failed to fit into the frame. It was later discovered that whereas Humburg used an old version of CARTIA while Toulouse used the latest version of CARTIA software hence resulting to incompatibility(Clark, 2008). Due to this misunderstanding between Humburg and Toulouse, the project was halted to give room for redesigning and production of new wiring harnesses, this took a period of two years and as a result, it led to delays in deliveries and Singapore had to wait until October 2007 to receive the first airbus (GPS, 2009). According to several complains made by airline companies through the globe, it is obvious that the main faults on the Airbus are normally engine malfunctioning. For instance, the in November 2010 when an airbus belonging to the Qantas company in Australia made an emergency landing it was immediately discovered that the left engine had been damaged (Rankin, 2013). The incident had no casualties, although some debris of the blown up engine fell on the Indonesian island. Due to the incident, Qantas grounded all its airbus flights for further inspection in conjunction with engineers from Rolls-Royce who are the manufacturers of airbus engines. Rolls-Royce Company regretted for not rectifying the problem on time although they were aware of the fault (The Telegraph, 2014). Rolls-Royce, who are the brains behind Airbus engines had three years to correct the errors and mistakes on the airbuses, which they did not and this nearly ended the lives of about 450 passengers that were aboard Qantas Airline on that fateful day. According to research conducted by ATSB, a safety bureau based in Australia, it was discovered that the engine blew up because of oil leakage that resulted to an internal oil fire. The fire outbreak not only led to the separation of pressure turbines in the shaft but also resulted to the bursting of the shaft due to the high engine pressure (ATSB, 2014). While still under repair, more problems were discovered on the Qantas plane, Apart from the blown up engine, more cracks were cited in the wings of the plane. This prompted EASA call for the grounding of all A380 flights for further inspection (Gilbert, 2012). The directive by EASA affected more than 20 A380 airbuses. It was discovered that most of the flights grounded had the same faults, as a result, EASA called for the grounding of more airbuses for inspection and repair, a process that cost the airbus company approximately $130 million (Sky Tamer, 2011). According to EADS, the cracks were because of inappropriate fitting materials used in the assembly of the airbus. These materials were later to be replaced with aluminum alloys and according to Airbus Company; future airbuses will not have any problems like in the past. Apart from repairing costs, the airbus was receiving lots of complains from various airlines asking to be compensated for the inconvenience caused by the company. According to the airlines, frequent repairs and grounding of fleets not only cost them lots of money but the airlines were also portraying a negative image to the clients who are likely to opt for other airlines that do not ground their flights every time(walker,2010). According to an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest in Davos Switzerland during World Economic Forum, Fabrice Bregier said that, while the company was preparing to unveil the new airbus A350, it had learned from its experience with airbus A380, which suffered a lot of failures and resulted to loss of millions of dollars. Although the airbus past problems were overshadowed by the Dreamliner, which had 50 Dreamliners being grounded after two Dreamliners ignited because of the Lithium ion batteries. The airbus A380 resent failures taught the company many lessons (CNN, 2013). Globally, companies that design complex structures and machines normally have almost the same horror stories. For instance, lack of coordination between Ford and Firestone companies resulted to a massive loss of millions of dollars (Goel,2009, p.41). This was after the two companies failed to communicate during production hence this resulted to incompatible products whereby the product, Ford Explorer was not compatible with the tires that had been produced by Firestone Company (Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014). Just as Ford Company had issues with Ford explorer, so did Airbus Company with the A380 airbus. It is because of these problems that saw the CEO of Airbus company quit his position in addition to several changes in the management. What is appalling about the two cases of Ford’s explorer and Singapore airline’s airbus is that both managers conceded that the situations could have been avoided if there would have been proper communication between responsible companies (Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014). According to Airbus Company’s manager, these problems can be fixed; therefore, a number of actions and changes ought to be enacted in order to avoid the frequent airbus failures. One of the most important actions that needs to be done by the project management team is the breaking down of the entire project into subprojects then assign it to dedicated sub teams. Because machines like engines are more complex, sub teams ought to maintain communication in order to ensure that the end product compatible in order to avoid redesigning which is results to loss of both time and capital(Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014). The engine can be divided to eight subsystems that are further subdivided into ten components, which are then to be assigned to different sub teams. No work can be perfect without a leader to guide others. Therefore, all the sub teams ought to be managed by one person who will not only be responsible for giving directions but also communication with leaders from other groups on the progress of and comparing components to determine if they are compatible(Saxena, 2009, p.9). To curb these problems and ensure that no other faults occur, The Company ought to embrace the integrated management systems theory. This is the integration of various components in the company to facilitate better communication between departments (Chartered Quality Institute, 2014). Methodology For proper management of the projects, a number of approaches ought to be implemented, some of the approaches include the identification and rectification of unattended interfaces, this are usually areas where communication is not taking place yet it should(Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014). Another approach is the location of unidentified interfaces, which is where communication is taking pace yet it is not supposed to. The two approaches play a critical role commonly known as alignment matrix. This is the revelation of communications that are supposed to occur and those that are not (Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014).Apart from the revelations, the approach aids in identifying how well the projects were planned and executed. For proper project management, the company ought to embrace three main steps: 1. Interviewing of system architects. System architects ought to have a lot of experience in the field because unlike other projects, the airbus project requires a lot of skill and caution because one slight mistake and the entire plane goes down with all the passengers and crews aboard. Therefore, architects responsible for the projects have to be grilled properly in all fields to ensure that they are qualified and have what it takes to handle the task (Harper,2008, p.69). The architects should be in a position to know the overall layout technical design interfaces and their functions. They need to know whether components ought to be partially linked with each other or not, how all the components function and the quantity of force energy and material that should be used in the designing and production of the project (Sosa, Eppinger & Rowles, 2014). Through interviews, the company not only knows the amount of experience he architectures have in the field but also enables project managers present responses by implementing the 4x4 design interface matrix. 2. Surveying Design Teams The teams responsible for the designing and production of the airbus ought to be thoroughly grilled to determine whether thy are up to the task and can accurately deliver. Unlike architectures and project managers who only supervise and give directions and recommendations, design teams are the most vital because they are always in direct contact with the project (Stoop,Billiet & Koch,2010, p.50). During the survey, the design teams have assure project managers that they are capable of delivering good results by proving that they are not only familiar with the components they are to build but also know all the specifications. Results from the survey should not be revealed to the team because apart from lowering the team’s self-esteem, it can also bias their response. Data collected from the survey is then keyed in the 4x4 design interface matrix. 3. Combination of Results The final stem involves combining results from the first two steps and overlaying the matrices to acquire the alignment matrix that normally displays both matches and mismatches between the architectures and design teams(Stoop,Billiet & Koch,2010). After the survey, project managers are normally in a better position to know the right personnel for the project. When the project is complete, the managers can compare the previous interaction matrix and the present one to determine whether any mismatches appeared during the project and if the past mismatches had repeated themselves (Drucker,nd). Such postmortems normally yield many important insights on production both presently and in the future. Since according to research, lack of communication is the main reason for mismatches that normally result to faults such as engine failure it is important that companies responsible for the assembly put aside their differences and work together in unison. Communication is normally the main obstacle between these companies due to several reasons such as usage of indirect channels of communication such as using intermediaries instead of direct interactions (Desjardins & Rubenson,2011). Another obstacle is interface standardization whereby documented interfaces remain unchanged (TMFORUM, 2014). Unlike A380 that did not curb the mismatches on time until it nearly caused damage on the Singapore airline flight, mismatches can be resolved only if they are identified in time. According to Integrated management System theory, companies ought to integrate all departments for proper and smooth running (Raisiene, 2011, p. 5). By integrating departments such as the accounts, engineering and public relations and marketing departments, Singapore airlines will be in a better position to boost its productivity. AIS theory has a number of advantages such as reducing the rate of bureaucracy and documentations, which becomes monotonous with time (Raisiene, 2011, p.6). It not only eases the conduction of internal and external audits but also makes the process more affective (Raisiene, 2011, p.6). Proper use of IMS results to minimal conflicts in the company (Singh,2009, p. 20). Apart from advantages, the theory also has some disadvantages such as: Tackling integrated audits is more complex compared to tailor-made ones (Singh, 2009, p.20). High variance of focus could result to incompatible end products that might require reprocessing, which could be expensive (Singh,2009, p.20). Another theory that can be implemented by Singapore airlines for positive and effective returns in the Adaptive Structuration theory. Through AST, the company is in a better position to study the support systems designated to various groups in various departments (IRMA, 2011, p.1718). The theory also aids in boosting the generation of structural changes through the technological devices present (Harrison, 2008, p.3). Some of the advantages of AST include: Powerful communication during analysis especially at the organizational level (Haslett, 2013, p.167). Proper decision making due to stable structuration emphasis. Some of the disadvantages that come along with AST include: The lack of proper guidelines and assumptions make the theory complex, which makes it difficult to be comprehended by users and this normally results to contradictions (Kort & Gharbi,2013, p.99). The theory does not issue transparent laws that make it not only limited but also contradictory (Kort & gharbi,2013, p.98) Findings and Discussions Some of the ways airbus can deal with such mismatches include restructuring of the system architecture, reassigning of management responsibilities and the reconstruction of organizational lines. For the company to identify the best solution for the project, the managers should follow three main steps: 1) Reviewing of system and organizational boundaries. By revisiting the organizational structures, project managers are in a better position to identify and rectify projects with unattended interfaces that would have caused more problems on the airbus company (Kamardeen,2013, p.12). Changing the organizational structure will result to a number of changes such as the architectural system, which is the most important department in many engineering companies such as Airbus Company. 2) Appoint teams that deal with mismanagement interfaces. Project managers should assign a number of teams with the role of locating unidentified interfaces and correcting unattended ones. Apart from hiring a team that will be accountable for identifying critical interfaces, which could be expensive, project managers can also extend the role of the integration team to include checking of critical interfaces and correcting them. 3) Establishing proper communication tools The frequent breakdown of Airbus A380 was due to lack of proper communication channels that resulted to the usage of different CAD tools. Communication failure can be fatal especially to companies like Airbus that have the task of producing complex designs (Charity Commission, nd). The sub teams that were assigned different components to work on have to be in constant communication in order to prevent production of incompatible products. Specific teams should be assigned the task of ensuring that component design changes are tracked and the findings communicated to the other teams (Wilson, M. E., 2008, p.17) Conclusion Airbus A380, a plane manufactured by Airbus Company is known to be the largest plane ever designed in the 21st century. The plane boasts of a double deck with a sitting capacity of more than 800 passengers .However, since its launch in 2005, A380 has encountered a number of flight problems which has resulted to massive loss of capital by the company. According to research, the main cause of the breakdowns is normally attributed to use of inappropriate materials, a problem that is normally blamed on poor communication between the responsible companies. References 2013. Airbus CEO: We will learn from past mistakes. CNN. 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