Boeing is committed to improving training and eliminating deficiencies in the FAA’s plan
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Boeing has pledged to US federal regulators that it will improve safety and manufacturing quality through training, streamlining processes and eliminating defects.
CEO Dave Calhoun met with Mike Whitaker, the head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, on Thursday to present a plan, which the agency has given Boeing 90 days to submit. The aerospace manufacturer is facing multiple investigations since a door panel blow away the 737 Max on a commercial flight in January.
This plan is supposed to show the way Boeing will address issues flagged not only in the FAA audit but also in a congressionally mandated report released in February by a panel of experts critical of the company’s safety culture. The panel called Boeing’s safety procedures “inadequate and confusing,” with low-level employees having little knowledge of company-wide safety initiatives and at risk of retaliation. if you report safety issues.
Boeing and the FAA will track six performance metrics to evaluate whether the manufacturer is improving its processes. They will measure the proportion of employees considered proficient in certain core skills; hours spent correcting flawed work, from both suppliers and Boeing itself; daily parts shortages; The work remained unfinished after the plane rolled off the factory floor; and defects discovered during final inspection before the aircraft is delivered to the customer.
“This is about systemic change and there is a lot of work to be done,” Whitaker said at a news conference in Washington, DC. “These metrics will give us a way to monitor their health over the coming months.”
The FAA has limited Boeing’s Max production to 38 per month, and the company is currently producing less than that. Boeing was burn cash because it slows down the production process in an attempt to improve quality.
Whitaker said there is no timeline or volume target tied to lifting the cap.
Senior FAA leaders will meet with Boeing weekly to review progress on performance metrics outlined in the plan, and Whitaker said he will meet with Calhoun quarterly with their next meeting in September in Seattle .
The FAA’s increased oversight of Boeing, which began earlier this year with more inspectors in the plane maker’s factories, will continue. The focus will be less on testing and more on testing, Whitaker said — “more hands-on and also talking to people at the agency and getting a more accurate picture of what’s going on.” happen”.
The door panel explosion drew intense scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers, prosecutors and the flying public. Although no one was killed, the incident raised questions about the safety and quality of Boeing’s manufacturing process, reminiscent of two deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.
The U.S. Department of Justice also determined that Boeing violated a deferred prosecution agreement, established in 2021 to resolve criminal charges for misleading aviation regulators that certified the Max . Prosecutors have until June 7 to file criminal charges. Boeing objected to the department’s assessment.
A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board found four bolts used to secure the instrument panel to the fuselage were missing. An FAA inspection found “multiple instances” in which Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, the fuselage supplier for the Max, failed to meet quality control requirements.
