Lead
Boeing has become the world's largest aviation company, led by a highly acclaimed entrepreneur chairman, but in recent years, Boeing's reputation has plummeted due to the quality problems exposed by Boeing.
Not only did the Boeing 737 Max passenger plane crash, but even the Boeing 787 aircraft was exposed to quality problems.
In many large cities on the mainland, Boeing aircraft have recently had problems again, and the United States has begun an investigation into Boeing and suspended the flight of 737 MAX 9 aircraft.
This is also the biggest resistance to Boeing, and why Boeing has such a big problem, affecting large airlines, Boeing, which can "handle" life and death, can no longer "save" Boeing, and even the United States once couldn't bear it.
Boeing's investigation of product quality issues.
Since 2019, there have been two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, and the final investigation result is that a problem with the MCAS anti-stall system on the aircraft caused the crash.
In response to this problem, the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States has also conducted an investigation into the Boeing 737 MAX for several months, which has also caused the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to be unable to solve the problem, constantly delaying time, and suspending the use of the aircraft.
In 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration announced an investigation into Boeing and suspended the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, which led to the cancellation of orders for such aircraft by both Shanghai Airlines and Air China.
The decision to suspend the aircraft was due to the fact that the Boeing 787 was exposed to some quality problems, half of which were due to substandard titanium alloy materials provided by Chinese suppliers.
It is reported that Tangshan Jingdian Special Metal Technology Co., Ltd., which involves a Chinese supplier, contributed a "criminal record" to a "criminal record" due to quality problems in the process of producing titanium alloy materials.
At the same time, in order to save production costs, Boeing outsources the production work, so it is not experienced in procurement, which leads to suppliers cutting corners and material quality problems.
This affected Boeing's 737 Max and 787 airliners, and Boeing's management also intervened in quality control, suppressing the "whistleblowers" and silencing their voices during the development process.
One of the captains of Boeing once said: "The quality of Boeing's planes can no longer be guaranteed, because the current Boeing planes are exactly when there are problems."
It was precisely because of the problems in Boeing's internal management that certain problems also arose during the development of the aircraft, and Boeing employees were fired by the company after exposing problems with product quality.
In 2017, 19 different grains were detected on Boeing's 787 aircraft, along with strips of dried lamb, rat carcasses and excrement.
Even the management of Boeing was puzzled by this incident, because when it comes to the safety of the aircraft, it can be said that it is highly sealed from the airport to the factory, but this situation has been exposed and is very puzzling.
In fact, Boeing's 787 aircraft had quality problems in 2013, because of a polypropylene fiber inclusion, which caused problems with aircraft parts, so a large-scale evacuation of the factory seriously affected the production line.
What exactly is wrong with Boeing's management?
Boeing outsources much of the work to save on production costs, and operates nearly 100 factories in countries around the world with different production standards.
Therefore, when Boeing is producing products, the control of product quality is not as good as that of its own production, that is, it is difficult for Boeing's production plant to manage well, so it is difficult to control the quality of products, and if there are defects, it will pass the review and enter the next link.
Boeing not only has its own production plants, but also more than 2,000 suppliers, and the charter of these suppliers states that Boeing has the right to review and sample the parts supplied.
And these audits and spot checks fall into the hands of Boeing, Boeing has more than 10,000 suppliers, and there is a complex chain of things produced every year, and quality management is a very complex job.
Therefore, when Boeing is responsible for this part of the work, there will also be deviations, and a large amount of reliance on outsourcing will lead to the inability to effectively manage Boeing's product quality, and the external impact will be increasing.
Boeing's management system is also relatively chaotic, and the actual ability of engineers will be limited in various ways, resulting in the inability to be rigorous in the manufacturing process of products, and the quality of products cannot be guaranteed.
At the same time, Boeing has various problems in management, resulting in quality problems in its manufacturing, and in order to pursue greater profits, Boeing often ignores the quality of products.
As a result, the quality of the aircraft originated from Boeing's internal audits and spot checks on suppliers, as well as management problems, and some safety tests were also limited.
Boeing's "vulnerability" disclosure.
Boeing made changes to the regulations in 2017, and this time the change has become a fatal hole in Boeing's quality problems.
In the original regulations for suppliers, different parts will have different inspection standards, because titanium alloys and other materials are some materials that are not easy to process.
Therefore, in the process of production, there are often some "small defects", but these defects will not affect the quality of the overall parts, so in this regard, the inspection standards for titanium alloy and other material defects have been greatly relaxed.
The original regulations for the inspection standard of these titanium alloy materials is less than one centimeter, strict control for small defects to inspect, while Boeing's revised regulations for these materials for defects have greatly relaxed the standard, 8.5 centimeters.
This also means that on the basis of the original, the control is more relaxed, and there will be "omissions" to a certain extent, because the parts can be shipped as long as they do not affect the overall use and safety.
The problem of the MCAS anti-stall system on the Boeing 737 Max aircraft is that for many years, Boeing has relied on outsourcing, and there are great flaws, and there will be more and more "omissions".
When the plane has a temporary stall problem, the sudden rise of the elevator will cause the aircraft to tilt forward, and at the same time will feel a kind of acceleration, this phenomenon will feel very troublesome during the pilot's flight, and it will also be very dangerous.
Turn on the MCAS automatic anti-stall system, the forward tilt phenomenon will disappear, but the aircraft at this time is not very dangerous, as long as the automaton is turned off, this situation will disappear, the aircraft will no longer lean forward, even if the MCAS automatic anti-stall system is not intercepted, the plane will not crash directly.
That's why two Boeing 737 Max planes crashed at the time, which was not explained in the pilot's manual, so it also caused the problem to not be well addressed.
The revelation of these safety issues also raises questions about the FAA's audit work, and Boeing's 90-day suspension is to develop a comprehensive action plan to address "systemic quality control issues."
But it took a lot of time to resolve, and in 2019 Boeing issued an announcement announcing that it had suspended production of all 737 Max aircraft, fired the director of the Boeing 737 Max, and raised the safety level of 737 Max manufacturing.
epilogue
Boeing's suspension of the quality of the aircraft revealed the inadequacy of the Federal Aviation Administration's audit, and the quality problems in the Boeing 737 Max aircraft are also a concentrated manifestation of the loopholes.
On the other hand, Boeing's management problems also reflect that Boeing's regulations have serious loopholes, resulting in imperfect certification audits of Boeing 737 Max aircraft and the exposure of final quality problems.
The United States suspended Boeing's planes, which is also an appeal from various countries to Boeing's quality problems, hoping that Boeing will put the quality of its products first, but Boeing's response is not satisfactory.
Boeing needs to take the corresponding responsibility for the quality problem, carefully control the quality, put the quality in the first place of the enterprise, and only the quality and safety of the product can win the market.