Interesting choice to be CEO – A career aviation business type with no aviation operations or engineering management experience.
From the New York Times in 2021: “In 2020, Boeing had a historically bad year, reporting a $12 billion loss and laying off 30,000 workers. At the same time, Calhoun earned $21.1 million in compensation.”
The statement, from this article, is frightening: “On Monday, they (meaning the NTSB) said that four bolts designed to keep the door plug from moving off the stops were missing, adding that they would work to determine whether the bolts had ever even been installed.”
Even if this isn’t the cause, the fact they made this statement, and many will conclude it’s the cause, demonstrates the overall lack of confidence in the company – Not to mention its problems with military aircraft and in space.
Perhaps the calls from current and former employees to return to an engineering and operations culture are correct. Being driven by quarterly results, in an industry with significant inherent risk and a long production lifecycle with multiple regulatory hurdles, just isn’t working for them.
It may sound naïve, but the sight of these aircraft being designed, built, and tested with engineering and aviation types in charge may be what’s needed.
Something is still broken at Boeing. It’s an iconic American company that we all want to love. Hopefully, the demands of Wall Street and the military-industrial complex won’t destroy it.
Perhaps it’s back to Deming 101 for the top team…….
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