Insight: Monday 16 September 2019 – Will Boeing’s Board go Far Enough?

News Boeing’s Board of Directors is likely to call for safety changes at the company in the wake of the two 737 MAX crashes that have grounded the aircraft and dramatically impacted production. A subcommittee of the Board has been investigating the company over the last five months and is scheduled to deliver recommendations to the full Board this week. Press reports indicate that changes to the organizational structure, with different reporting mechanisms for engineers to eliminate potential undue financial pressures influencing decisions as well as potential changes to future aircraft cockpits to enable pilots with less training to safety fly airplanes. The recommendations include having aircraft engineers report to the chief engineer rather than business unit leaders, and establishing a new safety group that will work across the company. It is likely that recommendations will also include improving communication between Boeing Commercial Aircraft in Seattle with the corporate office in Chicago. Analysis In the wake of the 737 MAX accidents, it has become clear through whistleblowers that engineers reporting potential issues through Boeing program management were rebuffed, and that the internal safety analyses at Boeing were flawed, enabling the MACS system to avoid FAA scrutiny during the certification process. The delegation of authority to Boeing under the FAAs Organizational Designation Authorization and the internal Boeing Safety Management System both appear to be flawed. The FAA used to allow Designated Representatives direct access to the agency, but today they report to Boeing managers rather than the FAA directly, making it quite difficult for an engineer to alert the agency of a potential safety issue. Boeing’s internal safety management system clearly was flawed in their assessment of MCAS, which in retrospect was clearly a system that could negatively impact safety of flight. Insight The question is whether this Board committee will implement change at a company that has traditionally had an air of arrogance. A recent example of this is the meeting between Boeing and the Joint Authorities Technical Review, which includes representatives from the FAA and international regulators. According to sources, Boeing’s presentation was stopped after only six slides due to a lack of technical details, and the company has still not provided the requested data to international regulators. Our sources indicate that this has raised the ire of some international regulators, who could slow their re-certification process in response. The problems at Boeing appear cultural and deep. The last four programs at Boeing are each flawed. The 787 debacle is well documented, and cost the company billions in cost overruns and delays. Compounding the issue was a grounding of the aircraft for safety problems with a battery system that was delegated to a subcontractor. The response to that problem was not to correct the battery and potential causes of a fire, but create a case and exhaust system to control a fire in the event of an emergency. Essentially, a band-aid rather than fixing the problem. The KC-46 tanker has been delayed multiple times, and this week a new issue emerged that has caused the USAF to restrict operations with passengers and cargo. This aircraft has a checkered history of not meeting specifications and requiring additional work by Boeing to deliver promised performance. The 777-X program is late, and had a failed static test on the carbon fiber wings last week, resulting in a cargo door blowing off the fuselage during the test. With GE already a year late with engines, this program has pushed to the right and is now scheduled for late 2020, instead of already being delivered. Boeing’s future product plans include the 737 MAX, 787, and 777-X, along with the KC-46 for the military. All have been delayed, and three of the four have had operational restrictions or groundings. The fundamental problem at Boeing today is that it apparently can no longer build aircraft that meet specifications on time and on budget. The company appears to have forgotten its core business. That’s not sound management. The culture at Boeing has been created from the top of the organization downward. The Board need to act to change the culture, and that means changing the senior management team that created it, starting with Dennis Muilenburg.

No results