Boeing and the Dark Age of American Manufacturing

The sooner Boeing gets rid of the Jack Welch clones the better. If they stay, you can forget Boeing. It’s good night and goodbye.

Boeing had engineers as managers in its early days. Finance people replaced them, and now the results are being seen.

The saddest part to me is that I worked on Boeing KC-135 tankers for twenty six years and in my opinion, they were the greatest airplanes ever built. They were built from 1955-1965 and a great many of those airframes are still flying, even carrying the majority of the mission for the refueling fleet. The KC-10 and KC-46 have not been able to meet the mission adequately to fully replace the KC-135, while the KC-10 did a good job in its limited numbers. It's a true shame that such a great design/manufacturing company lost its way. I hope they can regain what it was that made them the premier American aircraft manufacturer.

Reading this article it seems that the customers (airlines and passengers)are not part of the equation. Someone might in charge may want to recognize that there are customers.

Should be required reading in corporate America. We sceeded our manufacturing to the rest of the world and now it’s going to be a long and difficult journey on the road to recovery. Will we have the stomach? The financial capability? The humility?

Solution shall be given to scientists and honest people

The ENTIRE workforce of ALL aircraft manufacturers should comit to work in accordance with the ethos of Boeing as it existed in it's formative years, and as is clearly shown in this article. The salutary lesson which stands out however is that the drive for perfection has to come from the very top, without that commitment there is no chance.

Sorry to say, I think Boeing has one huge problem, Public Trust, one more fatal accident involving any Boeing plane could spell the end, the average person does not distinguish a B737-300 vs a max for example. When the public starts telling an airline, if it's Boeing I am not going, then they will be forced to rethink Boeing as a supplier. I am not so sure that is not happening right now. It may be too late for Boeing anyhow to retool if you will, as they have both feet in the mud. It has taken decades for them to get where they are today and these problems are deep rooted and go well beyond just the acrft.

737 Max 9 Door Plug Assembler, “Hey guys, what do you want to do with these four extra bolts?”

Way back when Walmart told us they were selling only American made products...but they weren't, the movement to get stuff cheap no matter where it REALLY came from didn't matter. We pledged allegiance to the buck. My dad saw it coming early when he was with a major oil company. He called them educated idiots....all book smarts, no street smarts. Could pass tests...but not reality. Sadly Boeing isn't alone but at 32,000 feet quality is a bit more important than a broken toaster.

When the bottom line becomes the main consideration and it supersedes all else, what you wind up with is arrogance and greed. I think it parallels the American auto industry in the sixties and seventies.

The same goes for the former Big Three automakers, ruined by beancounters and wall street's quarterly report demands. It's sad and with today's youth not wanting to get their hands blistered, dirty or their nails broken, the road to the way back is impassable.

And that's the reason I avoid ANY Boeing aircraft as a much as possible. Trust in Boeing is out the window.

And, so many so called manufacturers of transportation vehicles, are guilty of the same ills that befell Boeing. Why are Ford cars such junk? Same reason as Boeing I'm sure.

Fantastic article, but about far more than Boeing!

When Boeing went from engineers to bean counters running the company their fate was sealed.

Late is better than never.......

Airbus is far superior to Boeing at present

Its now relying on NASA and US Taxpayers to develop the replacement for the 737....

That says it all.

The culture underpinning the DC10 was allowed to eclipse and destroy the foundational culture underpinning the B747.

Boeing doesn't realise they let McDonnell Douglas buy them using their own funds. This is where Boeing went from engineering centric to bean counter centric. The Max fiasco was the result of not following good engineering practices. Not having warning lights, backups and emergency procedures for the MACS was just bad engineering practice. When this system malfunctioned in planes piloted by basically button pushers there was tragedy. Notice no first world carriers crashed. The ultimate responsibility of course is Boeing's.

Wow! I had no idea that Boeing has fallen so far from honor.

I remember an article, somewhere, concerning Jack. Here's the wonder of the corporate world, rich beyond his wildest dreams, insisting on a corporate office, a corner one no doubt, and access to THE corporate jet.... after he had retired. Free, of course.

I’m sure a lot of Boeings issues can be traced back to not hiring the best person available but the one that checks a box. More corporations will feel this pain

In order for Boeing to recapture their glory days, they are going to have to have the kind of dedicated skilled individuals that they had back then. They seem to be able to manage it with the unions even back then, but I don’t see that happening today. there are plenty of highly skilled aircraft assemblers and maintainers out there who would love a shot at Boeing but have no interest in becoming a union member.

I am not surprised that the Boeing Company is having set-backs and poor public perception of the OEM's manufacturing quality of product. Boeing started with the concept of making Aeros but not following the other major OEM's of that early time in aviation. There was some conflict over Boeing being Board Director and he was shunned from his own company; Boeing's name continued making some very interesting aircraft then WW2 saw the introduction to heavy airframes and MAC designs about the CG that wasn't all that important in light twins and singles. After the Global Conflict, Boeing Company saw where to go and moved in that direction of heavy mass people movers. They as a company did a lot in house apart from the engine side, and were successful. The Seven Hundred Series was a successful and as expected the B747 came into being. I heard the guy who was in charge of the Gear Designs was involved in the B17's gear's design. Naturally the Seven Series helped the Company survive when prices were cheap. Then cane the 1970 Club Meeting and prices began to increase and Boing being an airframe maker, though it a good idea to buy out suppliers of their equipment in an effort to save on production cost. The Giant trampling on these below it, generates a like return of energy. My first insight to this trend was Boeing's need to own Jeppesen to lower the then new trend in EFB and FMS chart data. Boing began an an Airframe Maker and was successful. Jeppesen was also a successful company making pilot and equipment items for flight crews to use. The people there were of a different energy level to those at Boeing. When the Jepps energy enter the Boing workforce, there would have been subtle changes take place. People leaving the company, changes in production and board meetings to resolve the problems. Boeing continued to buy out equipment supplies and thus expanded the change of energies of the Airframe OEM. What Boeing were doing is what a hoarder does.
A being alone, goes out and buys item not really needed, but is feeding of the social energy of the individual who made that item which satisfies A's physical need to have other energies from physical beings, be being one who finds socialising a barrier, body satisfies it's needs in the products made by people, that A has a connection to, but that connection is feed by hording the items energy. When those companies Boeing bought, entered the Boeing fold, that energy slowly began to conflict with and decay the OEM's original airframe make's energy level. This energy field effects workers. C works for Boing and used to install an item from another company, then that item is made by a Boeing owned company and the workers there have a sense of resentment they company they wanted to work for and be a part of, is now owned by a Step-Company Parent, that environment takes time for one to adjust. Child is not the Parent who needs their own life direction to live with the kinds in tow. Discussions and explanations are key to that environment. if child wants to leave and live elsewhere, that is their choice. Companies are a family or workers who want to support a product the same way they think about who to vote for. Force a change into that field of energy and negative energy follows. Years ago I wrote to Beech saying it is best to sell one $1,000,000 dollar jet than to make eleven and see them sitting on the ramp unsold and having to pay the production cost. Selling eleven $100,000 dollar airframes if better than trying to see a jet. I think now that the OEM's have seen this trend and make airframes based on confirmed orders, hence the backlog of orders. Customer B wants a product, B will wait a year, two years, to take delivery of said product. The FAF Wichita days where The big Three had twins and singles on the ramp waiting to be pick up, had at the time, lived in a different finical world that today. Boeing to turn around their bad run of karma needs to sell off what isn't originally of their design and make airframes of the Company's name. A makes airframes, B makes part that A needs to use, so buy them off B. Because you what grocery item X, do you buy the shop or the farm to get X cheaper? No!

Airbus lost 17B on the A380 vanity project but Boeing is a failure because a door panel made by a vendor blew off and two Max's were lost. Lion air shouldn't flown with a known sensor failure that hadn't been fixed and copilot at the control with known deficiencies. I heard he had only two hundred hours but I don't know for sure. I'm sure someone here can tell me. I'll research the other Max crash next. Boeing, a failure, LMAO with 6000 MAX's sold...this guys is really brilliant.

Who paid you to write this garbage, machinists union? Still crying about the two Max crashes at the hands of third world pilots. Well, Boeing has sold over 6000 737 Max jets which will be one of the most successful aircraft in history. The 787 and 777X are masterpieces. Two of the most beautiful jets in the sky today. You make it sound like Boeing can't produce a paper airplane. As for outsourcing it's a fact of life. When GM declared bankruptcy in 2008 or whenever, the UAW labor rate was $72/hour. They couldn't compete with the Japanese who were at about $20/hour. Can you do basic arithmetic? The numbers didn't work. So guess what, GM, Ford and other manufacturers outsource much of their business. They had no choice in dealing with vultures in the UAW. Boeing is dealing with the same issue, the costs of labor. So, they are forced to outsource. And, this is why the 787 program went to Charleston. The Union have no one to blame but themselves. From a safety standpoint, look at crashes/in flight emergencies for Boeing and Airbus for the last twenty years. Leave out pilot error and engine issues as they don't make engines then report back to me. I think you'll find as I did that there are vary few incidents overall and that the two companies compare favorably. I'm sick of this Boeing smear campaign funded by Airbus and the Machinists Union in Everett.

When hiring values identity more than merit…we all pay the price

Hey Boeing execs, how's that Diversity/Equity/Inclusion thing working out?