Supply Chain Research

Begin by using the FA (Financial Analysis) function for the company being investigated. Boeing shows a steep decline in market capitalization, enterprise value and net income in 2008. Part of the problem was due to the severe economic recession that began in the last quarter of 2008 but at the time Boeing was also encountering delays in the production of its new passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner. These delays were the result of problems that Boeing’s suppliers were having in fulfilling orders for parts of this airplane’s components.

Running the DSCO function and clicking on the highlighted earnings report for January 28, 2009 reveals that the company was having problems with subcontractors responsible for the manufacture of parts of Boeings 787 Dreamliner, causing delays in production and a loss in revenue.

Bloomberg provides a date filter as part of its SPLC display. Displaying the supply chain for Boeing in January of 2008 reveals that Vought Aircraft Industries was a major supplier for Boeing during that period.

Using DSCO to view the earnings report for Vought on August 17th, 2007 reveals that Vought was experiencing difficulty in completing orders for the fuselage barrel of Boeing’s Dreamliner, because it was unable to obtain from its own suppliers smaller structural pieces that needed to be attached to the fuselage barrel.

The function CN can also be used to research supply chain issues. Here a search using the relevant dates and company names pulls up a news story addressing Vought's supplier issues which then trickles up the supply chain to affect Boeing.