Proposal development with abstract and introduction sections

¶ … Boeing had with their 737, aiming to better understand how

Boeing 737 is regarded as the most commercially successful airplane in the world. Commercial figures back these assertions, while the company strategy, relying on innovation and on building competitive advantages based on technological advances, has been the main argument in constructing this commercial success.

This paper aims to look at things from two main perspectives, First, it investigates the technological advances that Boeing has proposed with its 737 model. It looks at different improvements to the fuselage, the engines, the design etc. all of which contributed to making the 737 more attractive for potential buyers.

Second, it looks at the commercial aspect and analyzes how the number of delivered orders varied over time. The aim of this analysis is to better understand fluctuations in sale, but also to correlate these trends with the technological advances that would have been discussed at the respective subchapter.

General information about Boeing

Boeing's history starts with the early flight pioneers, in 1910. From that moment, the company has produced some of the best known and most successful aircraft models in history, including the 737, 747 and 777. The company is best in Seattle and is currently headed by James McNerney, Jr., who acts as the company's CEO and Chairman.

The company is not only relevant for commercial and civil airplanes, it also has important production capacities for the defense sector. The company has always based its development of innovation. With this in mind, it has looked at biofuels for jet use, developed several communication technologies and has proposed significant engineering innovations, some of these particularly visible with the Boeing 737.

History of the Boeing 737

Reportedly, the idea for the Boeing 737 came in 1958, when the concept was to create a "twin engine feeder airliner"

. The introduction of the Boeing 737 and part of its subsequent success was also due to the competition. Some of the other aircraft producers were more advanced with the plans to produce a similar, short-haul jet. These included, among the aircrafts, the DC-9 and the Caravelle.

Joe Sutter is considered the creator of the Boeing 737 and he has contributed with significant work to other Boeing models, including the 747. The problem that he had in the moment of the initial conception of the 737 was that the market was a limited one and, to some degree, there was no so much that the 737 could offer as compared to its competitors.

The challenge was, thus, to bring in a model that would actually bring added value to the market and an alternative for existing and future models. This is an important point, because this is likely one of the explanations of why the 737 was able to remain competitive for such a long time: continuous innovation, brought about by the need to differentiate from a highly competitive market.

The idea that Joe Sutter had was to move the engines in a different position. He worked on several models and the idea that he eventually had was to had the engines very close to the aircraft's main body, rather than further away on the wing, as it had previously been considered as the industry standard. With this, improving the engine position of the Boeing 737 become somewhat of a trademark for the model, with further additions in the next decades.

The first orders came in 1965 (from Lufthansa) and the first flight was on April 9, 1967

. The pilots declared the 737 as a "delight to fly." This was the 737-200, an improved version than the 737-100 and a version that many of the airliners preferred.

Despite this strong initial success, 1970 was a difficult year, with very few orders (only 37). The company reinvented itself, including by making some of the 737 models more appropriate for carrying cargo, which thus widened the perspective and array of potential customers. The 1980s marked a historical moment for the company, with the last 737-200 model being produced. A total of 1,114 737-200s were produced by Boeing since the 1960s.

Technical improvements -- evolution and analysis

One of the first improvements to the 737 was in 1968, when the thrust reversal system was improved. As known, the thrust reversal proposes that the exhaust that the aircraft produces is directed forward. The 737 proposed a different design for the system, which allowed for the exhaust to be directed sideways, either below or above the wings. This was done through a tailpipe extension that was incorporated and that allowed for this different exhaustion method