Design/Build Teams
The 777 program established design/build teams to develop each element of the airplane's airframe and systems. The different specialties involved in airplane development worked jointly to create the airplane's parts and systems:
- designers
- manufacturing representatives
- tooling
- engineers
- finance
- suppliers
- customers
Based at the same location, team members worked concurrently, sharing their knowledge rather than applying their skills sequentially.
Communication among the program's 238 design/build teams was accomplished by using sophisticated computers linked by the largest mainframe installation of its kind in the world, consisting of eight IBM mainframe computers.
This computer network consisted of mainframes and workstation installations in the Puget Sound area, Japan; Wichita, Kan.; Philadelphia; and other locations.