Seems a bit pre-mature for the conclusions of this article. The article is motivated by the grounding of the plane due to battery issues, but its not yet clear what is causing these batteries problems. In otherwords, the article's argument would still be true if there were no battery issues, but I think readers are more interested in the context of these problems.
Generally I agree with the thesis of the article - aircraft are incredibly complex and require both modularization and top-level design management. And the article does make a good point that this kind of framework is needed for this scale of projects - whether module are worked on "insourced" or "outsourced". I think a potential issue with outsourcing is that geographic and organizational isolation probably leads itself to tougher integration.
I'm not sure the author hasn't run too far with his thesis here. Every modern airliner is outsourced to a major and entire systems must be designed by the supplier that provides them. If the requirements are understood this usually isn't an issue.
Major components of an airliner are often designed and manufactured in geographically separate locations. In the case of Airbus each national entity has different processes in some cases and this has caused issues in the past. The 787 is no different in this respect where entire systems are manufactured and built by different entities and then transported for finally assembly. In the case of the 787, if the author is correct that modularization has caused the issues then one would expect that the largest issues would occur with the major elements such as wings as they are built entirely by a subcontractor in japan. Of course, there have been no such issues.
The electrical problems are probably driven more by the extreme demands placed on the power supply than anything else. It wasn't as if Boeing wasn't aware of the risks involved in choosing Li-ion batteries and was just blindsided by a supplier. It made the decision and then sold it to regulatory agencies. If it didn't understand how to make the batteries safe or it wasn't comfortable with the design Boeing should have rejected it.
Yes, we still don't know the root cause of the issues. But suddenly leaping from that to placing blame on McDonnell executives keen a little too keen on outsourcing just based on a hunch is a little strange to say the least.
Delays in the introduction of new models are extremely common in aerospace. If these battery issues had been noticed by the right people sooner the 787 would have been delayed more than it was. Very few airlines would have cancelled orders over that.
Generally I agree with the thesis of the article - aircraft are incredibly complex and require both modularization and top-level design management. And the article does make a good point that this kind of framework is needed for this scale of projects - whether module are worked on "insourced" or "outsourced". I think a potential issue with outsourcing is that geographic and organizational isolation probably leads itself to tougher integration.