A Carefully Concealed Re-Framing of What a Boeing Insider Told Me
Sometimes it pays to simply be in the right place at the right time, and to REALIZE IT.
I have learned to stay IN THE MOMENT – to REALIZE IT IS A MOMENT – and to REMEMBER IT.
The world is a weird place. Every day, whether you fully understand it or not, you come into contact with people who have EXTREMELY interesting stories. You simply don’t hear them, most of the time.
So that person whose parent worked on the Manhattan Project, or that survivor of a serial killer, or the person who baby-sat Bill Gates – you meet them, you talk to them, but unless they open up about it for some reason, you will never know it.
There was a local radio station I remember, which had a segment called “Brushes With Fame”, and it was amazing to hear the MANY stories – because everybody has a few. You do. I do. And every poster on this site does, too.
My most recent brush with fame, was somebody with the inside story on Boeing’s problems. And this isn’t just “hearsay” – meaning it wasn’t just an insider who HEARD the story – it was somebody who knows – with their own eyes – all the details. How the story came out – I cannot say – it’s too unique.
I was SHOCKED. The story makes sense. It matches what we suspect. But most importantly, it EXPLAINS EVERYTHING.
This really needs to be said – and every member of Boeing’s board of directors needs to know this stuff – but I have to be very careful not to give so many details that the “whistleblower” is found.
And you KNOW “they” will try, because it’s what “they” do.
But this is important, so WE will try to get the word out – safely.
TL;DR – The basic problem at Boeing is terrible craftsmanship.
OK – we suspected that. But….
Why???
Here’s why.
The building of planes is being OUTSOURCED to sloppy companies, where workplace practices, procedures, and personnel are more like the roofing and cheap housing construction industries, than they are like aircraft mechanics.
The workers are young, poorly trained, barely educated, and either ignore or are not given rigorous assembly procedures. Safety checks are not done. Turnover is high. The untrained have to train the unqualified. Opportunities for wrong tools, wrong parts, and wrong procedures are everywhere and omnipresent. Those who understand disciplined assembly practices are shocked by what they see happening.
If you can imagine “clean room” technology, this is the opposite.
Management has known about this, but ignored it until the accidents and crashes made the problem too visible. They are only now reacting, and have not even BEGUN to do what should have been done years ago. And they are STILL not addressing the full problem.
The whistleblower had first-hand knowledge of all of his. I use the word “whistleblower” with some caution. This person may or may not have told any of this to other people. They may or may not have told Boeing management. I am hiding many shocking and highly validating details to make sure that the person cannot be found. But I will say this.
Boeing is not the only place where outsourcing (both foreign and domestic) created more problems than it solved. I saw the exact same thing, first-hand, in the tech and science world. QUALITY was very frequently sacrificed because the top-down orders were “global or else”, and “global” was basically some connected Chinese or Indian company getting a “didn’t earn it” job. These bad decisions were the outcome of boardroom combat by highly-paid stiffs – often people who didn’t truly understand the business, but had finagled their way into power by connections and influence, or otherwise, themselves, “didn’t earn it”.
Who can be more “global” than the other person? Who can be more cunning, in negating any criticism of sloppy work as xenophobic or nativist? Who can denigrate American quality in the smartest way – and then sell us all out – for a BONUS?
I’m not saying that Boeing is using foreign companies for outsourcing, although perhaps they are. I am saying exactly what I heard – that whoever Boeing is outsourcing to, domestic or not, it’s not working.
I do have some suspicion that CHINA is involved here – that they are sabotaging Boeing’s domestic workforce so that the economics will favor a CHINESE SOLUTION, with a CHINESE WORKFORCE, much like Apple and other companies that are now addicted to Chinese labor. That would also explain whistleblower deaths. The ChiComs are ruthless, when they think they can get away with it.
Whatever – bottom line – Boeing needs to get its act together – and that will NOT happen with “China Joe” in the White House.
Time to FIX IT. And getting Donald Trump back in the White House is a big part of MY proposal for how to do it.
W
