Delight is in the details, but fewer left for Boeing crews

On the 787's wings, Japanese engineers did the detailed design work that was previously done by people like Boeing employee Scott Wiggins.

While Boeing engineers alone made early design decisions about the 787 wing's aerodynamic shape and the broad architecture of the flaps that control flight, they worked with manufacturing giant Mitsubishi to figure out the wing's internal structure. Then Mitsubishi engineers designed specific wing parts, building the virtual parts on their computers.

For Wiggins, that was disappointing.

"It's very hard to let go of the detailed design work. It's really what everybody wants to do," the 20-year Boeing veteran said in a recent interview. "We were letting the Japanese do all that good work."

Over the past three years, Wiggins' small team in Everett at times included as many as eight Japanese members alongside some half-dozen Boeing designers.

Outsourcing the detailed design work is a key element of the new Dreamliner jet program. But just as the fabrication of the wings in Japan means fewer blue-collar manufacturing jobs in the U.S., the shift of the detail design work reduces the white-collar jobs of engineers like Wiggins.

Wiggins leads the design of the 787 wing spars, the two long structural beams that run the length of each wing, one at the front, one at the back, forming the sides of the "wing box."

"We more or less left the detailed design of everything inside the wing box" to the Japanese, Wiggins said. "We did not get our hands into their designs."

He said the Japanese have made a big contribution, solving many of the design problems that arose with the new composite plastic material.

"Manufacturing stuff, they are brilliant at," Wiggins said. "That's undeniable."

Made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, the 787 wings require an advanced high-tech manufacturing process developed by Boeing and fine-tuned by Mitsubishi with Boeing's support.

Though Boeing management assured employees that globalization of 787 design and manufacturing would bring in more sales and secure more high-level work for Boeing, Wiggins initially wasn't enthusiastic.

"There was always the concern that we were selling the family jewels," he said.

One worry was that young engineers newly hired by Boeing wouldn't get enough experience building parts, so that in the future they couldn't lead international teams as Wiggins is doing.

But so far, at least, Boeing management's scenario is playing out to plan.

Sales of the 787 have boomed — and the rush to buy was led by Japanese airlines. Sales of the new variant of the 747 jumbo jet are taking off, too. So engineering work is plentiful at Boeing.

"There's an incredible demand for our skills right now at the Boeing Company," Wiggins said. "We're plenty busy."

Bottom line: Boeing will always need guys like Wiggins. But fewer of them than in the past.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com