#7 It has more to do with business greed than DEI. The CEO of Boeing was focused of stock buybacks and increasing stock value than it was over quality. During Mullenberg's time Stock took a tear toward $400 per share. He restructured the supply chain from airframe specifics to commodities base procurement. For example: You have been buying a transmission for helicopters from a vendor for 30 years, say Triumph, and when it comes for the next round of purchases you cancel from the vendor and go to a low cost vendor. The low cost vendor build to print, but have zero destructive testing, casting experience, and on and on, but the second vendor says they can do it cheaper. So Boeing buys it. Now we have a sub par critical component being installed on an aircraft with zero developmental proofs in quality and safety. SO we see faulty transmissions and manufacturing misses that cost millions. This is a trap of outsourcing.
When you outsource an item and allow the sub to bear the research and development costs, they get to keep the data, he who pays for it, owns it so to speak. Reducing costs by outsourcing spreads the development costs over the life of the program. Where it goes south is when you then change vendors and the manufacturing data, not just the prints, legally don't belong to the OEM. You essentially have to start over with the R&D. There are ways around it, but with flight critical items, you get what we have here... Â |