Originally Posted by
Grebe
But about a year after the MDC buyout in 1996, Boeing had to shut down its production line in everett in 1997 due to the fouled up incorporation of a new cure all computer system and the infusion of way too many MDC types.
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Not exactly. The 737 line halt was announced in early October 1997, which was only eight weeks after the Macs acquisition closed.
The new system, DCAC-MRM (Define and Control Aircraft Configuration/Manufacturing Resource Management), had started in development in 1993, because production, parts supply and configuration control was already in chaos, the result of multiple computer systems that had been used to extend the basically WW2-era system that defined which parts were in which individual airplane. The problem was made worse in the early-90s recession, in which many of the experienced employees who made the creaky system work took buyout offers. DCAC-MRM fell way behind schedule and Boeing (real, legacy Boeing, long before Harry S. arrived) tried to launch multiple NG variants almost simultaneously with the old system.