Boeing’s Serious Issue: Bad Manufacturing Habits [Podcast]

Air travel requires an extremely high level of safety, so it’s very embarrassing for Boeing that they have been dogged by quality and reliability issues lately, resulting in a near-disaster on a brand new Alaska Airlines 737 Max.

Renaud and Paul look at Boeing’s recent troubles, based on information from news reports, that seem to have been caused by bad manufacturing habits such as accepting sub-standard parts from suppliers without pushing them to improve, not fixing issues in-process and ‘leaving them for later,’ an over-reliance on inspections and rework when planes were complete, and a business culture which placed financial results above quality.

They also explain the best practices that good manufacturers follow to reduce risks as your key takeaway from the episode.

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Episode sections

• 00:00 – Greetings and introduction – where is Boeing going wrong?
• 06:15 – What do good factories do to avoid problems like travelled work?
• 10:08 – Investing time for training suppliers in the upstream supply chain to reduce quality risks
• 18:24 – What can we learn about dealing with in-process issues from the automotive industry?
• 27:14 – Why a focus on inspection and rework later increases risks.
• 33:32 – Summary: Good manufacturers’ best practices.
• 37:46 – Wrapping up.

Related content…

• Behind the Alaska Blowout: a Manufacturing Habit Boeing Can’t Break (WSJ)
• Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 Near Disaster! Quality & Reliability Issues?
• NPI process explained

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