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But
innovation at Boeing will be "disciplined" and not endanger the
future of the world's biggest plane maker, Chief Executive
Dennis Muilenburg told reporters at an event marking the
company's founding on July 15, 1916.
The enterprise established by William Boeing in a Seattle
boathouse has faced numerous "bet the company" moments over its
10 decades to bring out new planes such as the 707 and 747.
"We have won for 100 years because of innovation," Muilenburg
said. "The key is disciplined innovation. We'll take risks.
We'll invest smartly."
Chicago-based Boeing has managed to stay ahead of European rival
Airbus in plane production and is a major defense and space
contractor, producing fighter jets, aerial refueling tankers,
communications satellites and rockets.
The company is exploring the possibilities of commercial
supersonic and hypersonic planes, Muilenburg said. It also is at
work on a manned mission to Mars. Though those are perhaps many
decades away, "I'm anticipating that person will be riding on a
Boeing rocket," Muilenburg said.
More immediately, Boeing is pressing for licenses to conclude
sales of 109 aircraft to Iran, including leased jets, despite
opposition from some in Congress. "This is a significant
opportunity," he said. "It does represent significant U.S.
manufacturing jobs."
The company also is still working on plans for a so-called
"middle of the market" aircraft that could fill a gap in its
product line between the 737 and the 787. Muilenburg said it
might use "existing products, derivatives of existing products
or an all new airplane" to fill the gap.
"If it's an all new airplane, we think that would probably be in
the 2024-2025 time frame in terms of when it would be introduced
into service," he said.
Muilenburg spoke with reporters at the beginning of a
celebratory weekend of events for an estimated 100,000
employees, families and retirees at Boeing Field in Seattle.
Muilenburg said Boeing is arguably stronger now than at any
point in its 100-year history. It has a backlog of 5,700 plane
orders, enough to keep its factories humming for six or seven
years.
Beyond filling those orders, it aims to "sharpen and accelerate"
its innovation, in plane design in the factory and services.
This includes "second-century design in manufacturing,
automation, 3-D printing, additive manufacturing," he said.
"Even though we're arguably the best aerospace company in the
world today, we have to continue to invest in innovation," he
said.
(See Boeing's 100 year history in a slide show:
http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/boeings-100-years?articleId=USRTSI4BI)
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Mary Milliken)
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