Friends, On Friday, machinists at Rogue Valley International Airport in Medford, Oregon, discovered that a United Airlines plane that had landed from San Francisco was missing an external panel (see photo, above). The plane was manufactured by Boeing. It was carrying 139 passengers and 6 crew. No one was injured, thank heavens. The missing panel went unnoticed during the flight.
Boeing is perfect paradigm of capitalism gone amok. When deregulation outstrips innovation and quality control, bad things happen.
We saw this when W Bush gutted the SEC and allowed “mark to model” accounting practices; eventually leading to the downfall of Enron, and ultimately Wall Street in 2007-08.
We saw how deregulation of the transportation industry led to the railroad calamity in Palestine, Ohio and other avoidable collisions.
Or the poisoning of the water in Asheville, NC when Duke Energy accidentally released toxic coal ash into the Dan River.
We need an equilibrium between good regulations and no regulations, and unfortunately, we can’t allow corporations to police themselves any longer .
Regulators and politicians have become too cozy with the industries they are supposed to be policing, while the SC allows unlimited money in politics.
Something has to give, and soon! Companies like Boeing are playing with fire, and the cost is human life’s.
The key statement in this essay is "The new crop of Boeing executives came to their posts from the financial side of the industry rather than from careers in production". Boeing has gradually gone from an engineering company to a financial/b-school company. In my opinion the solution to Boeing's current problems is the wholesale replacement of senior executives with people who come out of engineering and production. Do you really want a high paid bean counter making technical decisions?
Professor Reich: i grew up in seattle and many family members worked at boeing when i was a kid. one thing that always stood out to me was the company's insistence upon safety of the planes themselves, and the responsibility that each individual had to make sure their work as well as that of their co-workers, was up to these high standards. by the time boeing moved their corporate offices out of seattle, it became clear that the public was not even a fading interest growing smaller in the rear-view mirror of the boeing machine. i'm surprised it took so long before extreme greed took precedence over all else since everyone else around me knew this would be the price we all would pay, and openly stated as much.
I earned an EE degree while repairing robots…. advanced into maintenance management in many well known corporations in 50 years and I agree that those leading corporations with strong needs for quality control must have their feet on the floor. If I were CEO I’d have the top 20 leaders come in early every morning to work with those responsible for building the product …. Going from job to job until they figure out the process as seen on the floor.
Most leaders of the companies today have no idea of what’s going on…. and they don’t care as shown in this Boeing dilemma.
When you prioritize profits over product, and you make money your highest social value, you get shit outcomes in everything else: safety, performance, utility, endurance, happiness. Because "the market" doesn't give a shit about anything but itself, and we enslave ourselves to it. When we let the private equity and financial services crowd become the ayatollahs of our society, we get a different kind of imprisonment but a similar malaise.
I’m a mental health counselor. I’m no big deal in the corporate world but I’ve seen this first hand in healthcare. Lack of concern for the people who are receiving services, distance from the actual day to day delivery of the service/product. It’s the same dysfunctional system of corporate leadership being disconnected from the results of their decisions. It is clear Boeing needs new leadership that is able and willing to engage with their operations.
This is another example of a major company that has gotten so big that they slip into a state of complacency and become more concerned with generating profits for their shareholders over safety and quality! I relate it to what is going on in our Congress. The Republicants have committed themselves to do whatever it takes to protect and defend Donald Trump and impeach President Biden! The Republicants showed this again yesterday in the House Oversight Committee hearing.
They all took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not to protect and defend a person who has shown his contempt for America and our democracy!
The Malaysian workers are not to blame at all, note. The plug door itself had no defect. It was its installation in the fuselage that was done improperly. In Wichita, in the Spirit AeroSystems subsidiary you talked about in your article. A very detailed explanation was given on the excellent Mentour Pilot YouTube channel. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ROeGKs4xTfs
G’morning Robert ,Sleep eludes me this morning .I wish the mess we live with these days would magically disappear 🫠 .Boeing's story is becoming the story of the world’s lack of leadership in its own advancement! We are getting a wee bit less human , and more like the machines we try to make like ourselves!
If these panels had blown off a private jet, you know heads would’ve rolled, the quality department would’ve been restructured, apologies would’ve flown left and right, and by now, Boeing would be making THE safest planes in the world.
Management has to change its attitude towards listening to its employees, especially on safety. Whether it’s a matter of oil always leaking in the floor from machinery that workers are slipping in, or panels blowing off planes during flight, management must start listening to the people who actually do the work, and are responsible for the CEOs and board’s ridiculously high salaries and disgusting bonuses.
Would like to know your opinion professor on the following:
AI Artificial Intelligence runs on computers, lots of computers that need electricity. These computer farms produce incredible amounts of heat and the heat harms the computers so they need air conditioning which requires electricity. All of which needs water, lots of water. Where are we going to get all the electricity and water? What will be the environmental cost of this?
Outsourcing! - is MBA bollocks - you get a small, short term cost advantage and you pay by losing a large long term cost benefit.
Your suppliers will squeak a cost that seems lower than doing it in house - but it's probably not actually lower and in the medium to long term its higher.
If your business is in a mature slow-moving industry, then that will cost you some margin - but its probably survivable.
If your industry is changing FAST then massive outsourcing is a death sentence.
Which is what we are seeing with the Big Three US Auto makers
Boeing is perfect paradigm of capitalism gone amok. When deregulation outstrips innovation and quality control, bad things happen.
We saw this when W Bush gutted the SEC and allowed “mark to model” accounting practices; eventually leading to the downfall of Enron, and ultimately Wall Street in 2007-08.
We saw how deregulation of the transportation industry led to the railroad calamity in Palestine, Ohio and other avoidable collisions.
Or the poisoning of the water in Asheville, NC when Duke Energy accidentally released toxic coal ash into the Dan River.
We need an equilibrium between good regulations and no regulations, and unfortunately, we can’t allow corporations to police themselves any longer .
Regulators and politicians have become too cozy with the industries they are supposed to be policing, while the SC allows unlimited money in politics.
Something has to give, and soon! Companies like Boeing are playing with fire, and the cost is human life’s.
All capitalism ends up here.
Shareholder greed cares not for human life
#GOPtraitors
The key statement in this essay is "The new crop of Boeing executives came to their posts from the financial side of the industry rather than from careers in production". Boeing has gradually gone from an engineering company to a financial/b-school company. In my opinion the solution to Boeing's current problems is the wholesale replacement of senior executives with people who come out of engineering and production. Do you really want a high paid bean counter making technical decisions?
Professor Reich: i grew up in seattle and many family members worked at boeing when i was a kid. one thing that always stood out to me was the company's insistence upon safety of the planes themselves, and the responsibility that each individual had to make sure their work as well as that of their co-workers, was up to these high standards. by the time boeing moved their corporate offices out of seattle, it became clear that the public was not even a fading interest growing smaller in the rear-view mirror of the boeing machine. i'm surprised it took so long before extreme greed took precedence over all else since everyone else around me knew this would be the price we all would pay, and openly stated as much.
I earned an EE degree while repairing robots…. advanced into maintenance management in many well known corporations in 50 years and I agree that those leading corporations with strong needs for quality control must have their feet on the floor. If I were CEO I’d have the top 20 leaders come in early every morning to work with those responsible for building the product …. Going from job to job until they figure out the process as seen on the floor.
Most leaders of the companies today have no idea of what’s going on…. and they don’t care as shown in this Boeing dilemma.
When you prioritize profits over product, and you make money your highest social value, you get shit outcomes in everything else: safety, performance, utility, endurance, happiness. Because "the market" doesn't give a shit about anything but itself, and we enslave ourselves to it. When we let the private equity and financial services crowd become the ayatollahs of our society, we get a different kind of imprisonment but a similar malaise.
I’m a mental health counselor. I’m no big deal in the corporate world but I’ve seen this first hand in healthcare. Lack of concern for the people who are receiving services, distance from the actual day to day delivery of the service/product. It’s the same dysfunctional system of corporate leadership being disconnected from the results of their decisions. It is clear Boeing needs new leadership that is able and willing to engage with their operations.
This is another example of a major company that has gotten so big that they slip into a state of complacency and become more concerned with generating profits for their shareholders over safety and quality! I relate it to what is going on in our Congress. The Republicants have committed themselves to do whatever it takes to protect and defend Donald Trump and impeach President Biden! The Republicants showed this again yesterday in the House Oversight Committee hearing.
They all took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not to protect and defend a person who has shown his contempt for America and our democracy!
The Malaysian workers are not to blame at all, note. The plug door itself had no defect. It was its installation in the fuselage that was done improperly. In Wichita, in the Spirit AeroSystems subsidiary you talked about in your article. A very detailed explanation was given on the excellent Mentour Pilot YouTube channel. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ROeGKs4xTfs
G’morning Robert ,Sleep eludes me this morning .I wish the mess we live with these days would magically disappear 🫠 .Boeing's story is becoming the story of the world’s lack of leadership in its own advancement! We are getting a wee bit less human , and more like the machines we try to make like ourselves!
Could this be the turning point where US shareholders actually start caring if their investments kill people? Nah.
If these panels had blown off a private jet, you know heads would’ve rolled, the quality department would’ve been restructured, apologies would’ve flown left and right, and by now, Boeing would be making THE safest planes in the world.
Management has to change its attitude towards listening to its employees, especially on safety. Whether it’s a matter of oil always leaking in the floor from machinery that workers are slipping in, or panels blowing off planes during flight, management must start listening to the people who actually do the work, and are responsible for the CEOs and board’s ridiculously high salaries and disgusting bonuses.
The public sector is superior to the private sector when it comes to the health and well-being of a nation's people.
How much do we pay Boeing yearly from our military budget? Years past I know it was huge sums.
Would like to know your opinion professor on the following:
AI Artificial Intelligence runs on computers, lots of computers that need electricity. These computer farms produce incredible amounts of heat and the heat harms the computers so they need air conditioning which requires electricity. All of which needs water, lots of water. Where are we going to get all the electricity and water? What will be the environmental cost of this?
What happens when the power goes off?
Outsourcing! - is MBA bollocks - you get a small, short term cost advantage and you pay by losing a large long term cost benefit.
Your suppliers will squeak a cost that seems lower than doing it in house - but it's probably not actually lower and in the medium to long term its higher.
If your business is in a mature slow-moving industry, then that will cost you some margin - but its probably survivable.
If your industry is changing FAST then massive outsourcing is a death sentence.
Which is what we are seeing with the Big Three US Auto makers