Boeing Board to Call for Safety Changes After 737 Max Crashes

It is not the same Boeing Company I worked for as then, the mentality was "people use our products, we get-it-right." Over time the Bean Counters took over and along with Marketing, costs and schedule pressures prevailing created a dangerous mix. At the Senior Executive and Board level, the passive investors began putting pressure for higher dividends, stock buybacks creating higher market value. A blending, driven by prestige and greed factors led to the 737-Max debacle. (Additionally, Boeing's Military division has experienced aircraft delivery delays due to assembly and Quality Control issues.) So now, those who contributed to the disgrace get to correct the mess!

This seems to summarize what old Boeing hands have been saying here:

"One of the report’s most significant findings concerns the reporting structure for engineers at the company. At Boeing, top engineers report primarily to the business leaders for each airplane model, and secondarily to the company’s chief engineer. Under this model, engineers who identify problems that might slow a jet’s development could face resistance from executives whose jobs revolve around meeting production deadlines. The committee recommends flipping the reporting lines, so that top engineers report primarily to Boeing’s chief engineer, and secondarily to business unit leaders."

Boeing still has a massive cultural problem on the business end, not the engineering end. Now that their bad decisions are out there for everyone to see, now they want safety over money.

I got to work with one of the good managers from Boeing a while back, and he said the business management was toxic, and it was just a matter of time before it got someone hurt or killed.

Now they're calling for safety changes? Should be part of their checklist on each and every phase of design. Hey Boeing, safety first and then PROFIT.

It's kind of sad that Boeing didn't have some of these procedures in place before everything went to heck. The lack of a company wide safety committee is the most surprising, especially in a company with this many employee's. It's really good that the Boeing's board set-up this committee shortly after the incidents, and kept it under the radar. Hopefully that got honest insight to the issues.

More "Cow Fart"?

An excellent recommendation, one to be enacted without objection!

I believe that is Standard Capitalist Operating Procedure; Short term Profit over everything and when the Poo hits the fan, Business Management already has their cash, just make excuses and run to the next Company . . . Hell, SCOP can destroy an entire Economy (2008) and two brand new aircraft and Business Management still have no fear of jail . . .

The Boeing Board has made the correct decision by moving the engineers away from the business leaders. The business leaders' function is to maximize profits but that can lead to decisions that can and did cause damage to Boeing reputation. The leaders had no experience with airworthiness. The engineers are now under the control of the chief engineer. It seems that companies are now controlled by business managers that only look to maximize the short term profits for the stock markets. They do not seem to have long range plans anymore.

In a nutshell, the Boeing company, from top to bottom, is learning hard lessons, including moving the Corporate offices from Seattle to Chicago. Additionally, the FAA, which Congress has failed to adequately fund over many years, has culpability due to limited numbers of engineers to support thorough aircraft certification efforts.