A European joint venture in aerospace

Development, production, sales, and support of modern advanced technology aircraft has become more and more difficult, costly and risky for a single manufacturer to undertake the task alone. Joint ventures offer an attractive solution. Experience has shown that the old concept of a dominant manufacturer who retains full initiative, can be exceeded in efficiency by real 'cooperative ventures'. The key elements in such ventures are that pragmatic organizational and cooperative behavioural solutions are used. The positive aspects of joint 'team' work can indeed more than compensate for the apparently increased complexity. From the experience gained in the last 14 years in the European Airbus Programme, examples are given of representative problems and their solutions, covering: organization, optimization of the design through cross-fertilization, production sharing, market penetration in front of competition and others. As for any human activity a strong motivation for the success of the joint venture is nevertheless required from all participants.