Top Players Inside and Outside Boeing

Kevin Fowler
Vice President, Systems Integration, 787 Program, Boeing
Fowler is charged with the formidable task of ensuring that Boeing’s engineers and its industry partners have the applications and tools, such as the Dassault Systèmes PLM suite, to design and engineer the company’s new 787 Dreamliner. Chief among his concerns is making sure that all Boeing 787 partners worldwide are working from the same designs and on the same technology platform, so that information can be integrated smoothly and accurately.

Insiders:
Carol Pittman
Director of Engineering Systems, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Information-technology director for the 787 program until October, when her responsibilities were broadened to include Boeing’s entire commercial airplane group. Pittman works closely with Fowler to ensure that the company can support the Dassault PLM suite used by its engineers and industry partners to design and virtually construct the Dreamliner. Pittman oversees critical software updates to the entire Dreamliner team four times a year.

Mike Bair
VP and GM, 787 Program
Bair has overall responsibility for development of the 787. He was director of engineering and chief project engineer on the 777 program, where Boeing cut its teeth in the use of Dassault’s Catia 3D design software. Bair believes Dassault’s PLM software suite will trim as much as a year off the 787’s development cycle.

Scott Griffin
CIO
The information chief has overall responsibility for technology throughout Boeing’s operations and is Pittman’s boss. Griffin became CIO in 1999 and moved to centralize the company’s I.T. organization. He calls the company’s PLM deployment a fundamental, game-changing initiative.

Scott Carson
CEO, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
He was named vice president of sales for commercial airplanes in 2004, the year Boeing approved the formal launch of the 787 program. The 787 was a critical bet for Boeing, after Airbus had unseated its rival as the world’s largest producer of commercial airplanes. Boeing bounced back with record sales in 2005 and 2006, and Carson was rewarded, being named CEO of the commercial division in September.

Outsiders:
Bernard Charlès
CEO, Dassault Systèmes
Delays at Airbus on its A380 jumbo jet, which were blamed on the company’s use of Dassault’s Catia design software, rightly or wrongly have created a black eye for the leading PLM player. In response, Charlès has been playing up Boeing’s use of the company’s software, and spotlighted the technology with a virtual rollout in December at the factory in Everett, Wash., where the Dreamliner will be assembled.

Walter Donaldson
GM, Product Life-Cycle Management, IBM
Donaldson has forged a strategic relationship with Dassault Systèmes, making IBM a preferred consultant for companies working with Boeing on the 787 program. IBM is also working with Airbus to update its systems to the latest version of Dassault’s Catia software, and expand its use of the entire Dassault PLM suite.

Louis Gallois
CEO, Airbus
The responsibility has fallen on Gallois’ shoulders to get the A380 superjumbo back on track after his predecessor, Christian Streiff, was forced to admit in October that the plane would be delayed by two years. Priority No. 1: getting all A380 engineers using the same version of Dassault’s design software.