#7 Human Resources and Leadership: What workforce trends is the industry experiencing?

In the Aerospace and Defense industry, each company is trying to sissify its customers' needs through innovation rapidly. For example, Boeing company is working on its new aircrafts "737 max" which will have a new, advanced engines. Boeing has secured more than 600 orders on its new aircrafts, but Boeing plans to deliver the first 737 MAX in 2017. On the other hand, Boeing's arch-rival Airbus has generated a competing model called A320neo that has garnered more than 1200 orders, the company plans to deliver the first order in 2015 which means two years earlier than Boeing's first order. Because of this difference in time between the two companies, Boeing is pushing the team to beat the date. In addition, Boeing announced that the new-engine variant will have 4% lower fuel burn than the competing A320neo's.

In my opinion, the Aerospace and Defense is very high competition industry. Boeing is investing heavily in engineering, and in its workforce to innovate more, and to finish its order as soon as possible, to reduce the time difference between them and Airbus's orders. Boeing has secured more than 600 commitments from airlines to buy the new 737 max, but they are trying to increase the number, and to beat its competitor Airbus. However, I don't think Airbus is just waiting for 2015, sure they are trying to avoid any future surprises, so they could doing the same thing as Boeing though, but with less pressure to increase their sales, and the orders' time difference which is Airbus's main achievement point.

By Saoud Sulaymani