On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:00:59 GMT, Marty Shapiro
wrote:

If this were the first airplane Airbus designed, the use of non-
compatible software causing delays would be much more believable. How many
airplanes does a company have to design before they learn the necessity to
ensure compatible design design software between all their divisions and
subcontractors?

This assumes engineering decisions are made based on engineering issues.
Increasingly, decisions are made for political reasons. If insisting the
engineers of Country B switch to a more up-to-date tool means that the Prime
Minister of Country B (a major stockholder) will call your boss and threaten
retribution, which way do you think the decision will fall?

I worked a program once (non-aviation) where an engineer did a very careful
trade study on suppliers, then was forced to select the one with the highest
cost and lowest quality. The company was trying to gain some critical licenses
in the country where the supplier was based.

Ron Wanttaja