Boeing outlines strategy to increase revenue, profits

Boeing has laid out an ambitious, five-year strategy to increase revenue and profits, promising to boost efficiency, return free cash to shareholders and expand the after-market services and parts business. But senior executives, speaking to analysts at a conference, faced questions about whether Boeing can tame the commercial aircraft business cycle. The company gave few new details about plans to modify existing planes to better match market needs to counter competitive threats from Airbus and Bombardier. Boeing expects to lift profit margins to a double-digit percentage next year and has an "aspirational target… towards the end of the decade of getting to mid-teen margins," Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said. The company is re-engineering itself to become more flexible and efficient in designing and building aircraft, using automation, 3-D printing and other measures. These moves, Muilenburg said, would allow Boeing to create a steady, sustainable business in what has historically been a highly cyclical industry.<br/>