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An increased number of surprise inspections and greater scrutiny of parts made by suppliers are among more than a dozen initiatives Boeing Co. said it has started at its 787 Dreamliner plant in North Charleston and other jet factories following an in-flight emergency involving one of its planes a year ago. The company last week announced the new measures as part of a safety and quality assurance plan it developed after a fuselage panel blew out of a new Alaska Airlines 737-9 Max jet while at 16,000 feet, causing minor injuries to some passengers.
The plane later landed safely. Boeing said it gathered feedback from employees, customers, independent experts and the Federal Aviation Administration to develop the plan. The Arlington, Va.
-based aerospace giant didn't comment on the plan but said in a statement that it is designed to address four areas: workforce training; simplifying plans and processes; eliminating defects; and elevating the company's safety and quality culture. It's something Kelly Ortberg , who took over as CEO in August, said is necessary to restore trust in the planemaker after a series of production missteps and whistleblower reports of shoddy work and safety shortcuts. Although Boeing said it has made "tangible progress" toward its safety and quality goals, FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a blog post that the corporate turnaround is "not a one-year project.
" Whitaker, who plans to step down when President-elect Donald Trump takes office this month, said “what’s needed is a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that’s oriented around safety and quality above profits,” adding it will “require sustained effort and commitment from Boeing, and unwavering scrutiny" from the FAA. The safety regulator has made "an unprecedented number of unannounced audits" at Boeing factories, Whitaker said, adding "our enhanced oversight is here to stay." The latest measures include a new layer of surprise inspections intended to catch problems like missing bolts that led to the Alaska Airlines incident, hundreds of fasteners improperly installed on 787s and reports that some Dreamliner inspection documents were falsified.
There also has been a significant reduction in fuselage defects after stepped-up inspections at supplier Spirit Aerosystems as well as hundreds of hours of new training programs and a system to prevent what's known as foreign object debris, or FOD , from winding up in aircraft. That was previously a problem at the Dreamliner factory off International Boulevard, where workers said they found tools, a ladder and other objects in planes that had already left the assembly building. Boeing is promising its employees confidentiality for reporting problems, instituted a program that tracks and secures parts for 737s and 787s to prevent loss or misuse and simplified installation plans for production of 737s.
Aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton said the report provides few details, and the company's assertion that it has "addressed" 70 percent of action items raised by employees doesn't give insight into Boeing's responses. "It’s unknown how many items were resolved, affirmed, denied, dismissed, corrected or implemented," Hamilton said in a report for Leeham News and Analysis . He said several Boeing employees have expressed skepticism of the safety and quality accomplishments, including members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace .
“Boeing is making some appropriate moves, but it’s like they’re putting out fires while they’re not recognizing the lightning storm that is creating these fires they’re putting out,” Rich Plunkett , the union's director of strategic development, told Hamilton..
