How production pressures plunged Boeing into yet another crisis
In October, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun was asked how fast Boeing could raise output of its best. ''$)"ƳƯƳ Ƥ - .+ / *!,0 '$/4 snags. He was upbeat: Boeing would get back to 38 jets a month and was “anxious to build from there as fast as we can.” As he sought to reassure investors *0/ /# - *1 -4 *! * $)"ǭ. .# *2 Ƥ - )*/# - ,0 -/ -'4 '*..Ǡ one of the narrow-bodied jets was waiting at Boeing Field in Seattle !*-ơ) '/ ./. ) '$1 -4/* ' .& Airlines just six days later.four critical bolts were missing.
*2 (* -) % /'$) - ' Ƥ * - $)"ǭ. ) - 4 )/*) ! /*-4 2$/# loose door panel, setting the clock ticking on a terrifying mid-air blowout on January 5, has triggered soulsearching about quality controls and plunged Boeing into its second . ! /4 -$.$. $) ơ1 4 -.ǟ "0' /*-. # 1 .0.+ ) * $)"ǭ. +' ). /* - (+ 0+ ƳƯƳ *0/+0/ ) '#*0) )*2 . 4. $/ǭ. /$( /* Ǯ"* .'*2 /* "* fast”, casting doubt on the shape of its recovery from back-to-back
-$. .Ƕơ-./*1 -/2* - .# . that killed 346 people and then the + ) ($ Ƕ 2#$ # ' Ƥ $/ ʡưƴ $''$*) in debt. Interviews with a dozen current and former industry executives suggest it was the pressure to produce coupled with an exodus of experienced workers that contributed to a slow-rolling industrial /- $) 2- &Ǡ ) $)" 2$/# ƭƴƭ + .sengers staring out of a gaping hole at 16,000 feet.
“It looks like Boeing has been more focused on investing in ramping up into higher production rates than taking its quality system to the next level,” said manufacturing expert Kevin Michaels, Managing Director of aerospace consult$)" ơ-( -* 4) ($ 1$.*-4 in Michigan.two sources familiar 2$/# * $)"ǭ. ,0 '$/4 $1$.$*) . $ that controls had atrophied in re
)/ 4 -. Ƥ - ( )4 3+ -$ ) $).+ /*-. ' Ƥ 0-$)" /# + ) ($ and amid the pressure to stick to the production recovery schedule.
While Boeing says it has added more inspectors since Covid, many were inexperiencedandcheckingworkdone bymechanicswhothemselveshadonly recently been hired, the sources said.