Boeing did not adequately train employees and prioritized production speed over quality, according to a Senate report released on Tuesday.
The memo was released by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations (PSI) following their investigation into Boeing possibly taking “shortcuts” on production, and included “troubling” findings from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 2024 special audit. One of the key findings of the committee’s report detailed how Boeing placed emphasis on speed over quality in its production, which caused employees to have lowered production standards.
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 08: The Boeing logo is displayed on a Boeing building on January 8, 2024, in El Segundo, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“Boeing personnel continue to feel pressure to prioritize speed of production over quality,” the PSI report stated. “In a May 2024 employee survey, the company found: Only 47% percent of respondents answered favorably to the statement, ‘Schedule pressures do not cause my team to lower our standards.’”
The report also details how Boeing employees were not being trained properly. Boeing also failed to equip its employees with proper resources to complete their work, including failure to provide mechanics with appropriate tools, according to the report.
“Boeing continues to fail to ensure that nonconforming parts are appropriately documented, stored, and dispositioned so that they are not installed on aircraft,” the PSI memo said. “The FAA’s special audit found an ‘absence of process control for scrap articles that left the secure Material Review Segregation Area until rendered unusable’ in two areas used to store nonconforming parts.”
Boeing’s quality inspections may not always have been performed by “qualified and independent personnel,” according to the report. The report goes on to say that Boeing personnel were allowed to “inspect the quality of their own work” in some of Boeing’s facilities, which was deemed as an “inherent conflict of interest” by the FAA. (RELATED: Boeing Ousts Head Of 737 Program After Federal Investigation)
Boeing has been plagued with controversies following a myriad of quality control crises, including Boeing grounding its 777X jets in August following reports of structural problems found in the jets. Thousands of Boeing factory workers walked out on strike earlier this month.
Two NASA astronauts have been stuck in space at the International Space Station(ISS) for months after traveling there on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which served as another major blow to Boeing’s reputation. It was reported that the astronauts may be stranded in space until 2025.
Boeing reached a plea deal with the government in July that requires them to pay a $243.6 million fine over two 737 MAX airplane crashes from 2018 and 2019. Boeing pled guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after they faced accusations of knowingly providing false information about the 737 MAX’s software.
It was announced in March that the CEO of Boeing, Dave Calhoun, planned to step down at the end of 2024 amid the aviation company’s various safety concerns. Kelly Ortberg started as the new CEO of Boeing in August, according to CNN.
Boeing and the FAA both did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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