This has been a miserable year for Boeing. Not only has it struggled to cope with a safety and quality control crisis, it has lost billions of dollars following a strike by workers that paralysed production at two of its biggest factories. Even its space programme has been in trouble. Two astronauts were left stranded on the International Space Station in June after their Boeing Starliner capsule developed a potential fault, which would have made returning to Earth in it too dangerous. On top of all this, the company faces a crisis of confidence from within its own ranks, says Bjorn Fehrm, an aeronautical and economic analyst at industry consultants Leeham Company.
People in Boeing don’t believe in words from top management any more, he says. The whole system was just in shambles. It [had] kind of just broken down. His allegations came to light in June when they were referred to during a congressional hearing in Washington DC into safety failures at the aerospace giant. During the session, Boeing’s top bosses were accused by Republican Senator Josh Hawley of “strip-mining” the company for profit and cutting corners on safety in order to boost earnings.
David Calhoun, who was Boeing’s chief executive at the time, said he “didn’t recognise” Mr Hawley’s depiction of the company. That is not the way we operate, he said. I am proud of every action we have taken. Since then, Boeing has appointed a new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, who has pledged to “restore trust” in the business, overhaul its corporate culture and prioritise the safety of passengers. The company is also in the process of implementing new safety measures.
In early December Mike Whitaker, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), visited the factory in Renton near Seattle that Mr Mohawk has raised concerns about. At the time, Mr Whitaker said: What’s truly needed is a fundamental cultural shift that’s oriented around safety, quality improvement and effective employee engagement and training. As expected, Boeing has made progress executing its comprehensive plan in these areas, and we will continue to closely monitor the results as they begin to ramp up production following the strike.
But for many experts, the problems at Boeing go back decades – and are unlikely to be solved overnight. The hardest thing to change in large companies is the mindset of people, says Mr Fehrm. It takes time, and it needs to be manifested in actions, doing things differently.
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