Europe’s Technological Struggles

Airbus management is split between German and French executives. In France, Airbus technicians trying to work on 310 miles of wiring inside the A380 fuselage using a 3D diagram from Germany realized, too late, that the German diagrams were two-dimensional. This caused a two-year postponement of the project, close to $6 billion in future profits and cost Airbus’ parent company’s stock to plunge 26 percent in July. Some analysts agree that this failure of communication could break the company, which has decided to close six plants and eliminate 10,000 jobs in order to try and remain competitive. MORE