A Cautionary Tale - Boeing 737

 I think this is a cautionary tale that echos many others we've come across where a predominant focus one thing - in this case Time, and Cost over Quality - end up having systemic consequences.

Boeing is being investigated by the FAA in the states after a door panel blew off a 737 Max in mid flight in January ‘24. The investigation has found dozens of problems throughout the manufacturing process, most importantly not complying with quality control requirements. It took a whistleblower to highlight how endemic this had become, with some serious behavioural issues having developed on the shop floor. It appears that the predominant focus on Target and Cost superseded safety.

It's easy to jump to blame here of Leadership who set the focus, of management who set the environment or the employees that developed some pretty bad behaviours. The fault lies across the whole system and in our opinion a fundamental misjudgement was in implementing a strategy without engaging and listening to employees. In this case the voices of quality control managers were actively silenced which, for the aviation industry, should be alarming to say the least.

Where would you start with this tale of woe?