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Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

reuters.com

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Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#131
post #111
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, recently Boeing has made major strides on diversity and inclusion. >Boeing has made diversity and inclusion a strategic priority — and external validators have taken notice. On May 7, it was announced that Boeing ranked 32nd out of more than 1,800 companies that participated in DiversityInc’s 2019 Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey > https://www.boeing.com/features/2019/05/diversityinc-top-50-..…

It turns out that reforming hiring practices for D&I goals gets good PR and doesn't cost so much compared to providing decent work conditions and pay... It doesn't follow that the latter was preventing the former.

I fail to see how "providing decent work conditions and pay" is a cause or solution to the problem of employees leaving "objects" around a plane after it was delivered to customers.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#132

Maybe the next CEO will actually try to fix things, seeing as how his job will likely depend on it. Fuck up like Muilenburg did and you're out too. It seems like the incentives may be correct now to focus on the right things rather than just cut costs as much as possible. Hopefully!

The new CEO comes from Blackstone. I'd say it is even more likely that he'll double down on the cost cutting.

And Nielson. And GE... (aka, old struggling companies that are failing to keep up with the times)

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#133

The big question for Boeing is how they will transition to a post-737 world. Until now, Boeing's business plan is that they will be building a starship for NASA in 2060, but you will still be stuck with a 737 on Southwest Airlines, a A320 on Jetblue, and never know that aviation could be better. The 737 throws off a lot of cash, but the single-aisle monoculture makes flying miserable. A 737 replacement will be expens…

> ...single-aisle monoculture makes flying miserable.

What is it that people expect when they say flying is miserable? I expect safety, which is why I'll never get on a 737 MAX. Other than that, I just put sandwiches and snacks in my pocket, fill my water bottle, and in X hours I'm thousands of miles away. Air travel is actually pretty amazing.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#134
post #55

> Chairman David Calhoun will take over as CEO and president, effective Jan. 13, the company said, adding that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company. If they wanted to restore my confidence, they’d have picked an engineer, not an accountant.

You mean like the guy they literally just replaced?

Yes, but a different one (they tend to be different despite of having the same degree).

Whatever made this one to deviate from the engineering focus the apparent story is still the suffering of engineering focus against business management focus.

For restoring confidence in engineering the act is not to fire engineers but to use good ones....

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#135
post #110
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYT story in particular was hard-hitting and well sourced. Gotta wonder if these stories influenced the board to act now. It's a bad look, because Boeing is consistently way too late to recognize what is obvious to those of us watching from home. I continue to be astounded that our most senior leaders will not act in the long-term best interest of the organizations they lead. It's been 37 years since the Tylenol…

How do you know the brand wouldn't have recovered from the 27% loss anyway?

How do you make any judgment about historical events when you can't run concurrent A/B tests?

If America stayed home in World War 2, how do you know the Allies wouldn't have won anyway?

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#136
post #11

Why isn't it enough to retrofit all past and future models with enough hardware redundancy and create a properly written MCAS software? Wasn't the design sound, except for the lack of hardware sensor redundancy and naively written software? Why do they need to stop production and so on?

Because these changes are going to require a new type certification, which defeats the entire point of just making a better 737 in the first place. It will no longer be nearly as appealing to airlines. They might actually be better off just axing the MAX entirely and continuing to produce the 737 NG, and then work on a clean sheet 737 replacement that doesn't suffer from all the compromises inherent in the MAX.

What does that mean for all the Max units currently out there and grounded, though? Obviously there's going to be a huge and drawn-out lawsuit over this, but it seems like at the end of the day, the airlines involved will still end up having to train their pilots on those planes in order to get them back in the air, and at that point, they might as well have a bunch more of them anyway.

And if they're doing the new-plane certification and training anyway, the MCAS no longer has any point and could perhaps just be turned off?

Edit: Perhaps not— this comment asserts that the handling of the airframe sans MCAS is non-compliant with FAA requirements: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21864584

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#137
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you're right but this reminds me of the very sad saying, "Bike lanes are painted in blood". Why can't we properly value safety over convenience and profits before there is a huge accident?

You know the smell of gas? That's the smell of 300 souls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion Pretty much all safety measures are written in blood.

I never knew about that link, thank you for posting this. It's sad that it took that many lives to solve something so simple, it likely wasn't the first such explosion either but the others may not have been serious enough to warrant countermeasures.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#138

Maybe the next CEO will actually try to fix things, seeing as how his job will likely depend on it. Fuck up like Muilenburg did and you're out too. It seems like the incentives may be correct now to focus on the right things rather than just cut costs as much as possible. Hopefully!

Why on earth would the next CEO be incentivized to do anything other than wring all the money out of the company that they can? The punishments for failure are insignificant. They get to keep millions and millions of dollars even if they wreck the company.

Some people do get a sense of pride and fulfillment out of doing a good job that money can't provide.

Re: Boeing CEO ousted as 737 Max crisis deepens

#140
post #87

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/business/boeing-dreamline... > Safety lapses at the North Charleston plant have drawn the scrutiny of airlines and regulators. Qatar Airways stopped accepting planes from the factory after manufacturing mishaps damaged jets and delayed deliveries. > Less than a month after the crash of the second 737 Max jet, Boeing called North Charleston employees to an urgent meeting. The company…

On the other hand, recently Boeing has made major strides on diversity and inclusion. >Boeing has made diversity and inclusion a strategic priority — and external validators have taken notice. On May 7, it was announced that Boeing ranked 32nd out of more than 1,800 companies that participated in DiversityInc’s 2019 Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey > https://www.boeing.com/features/2019/05/diversityinc-top-50-..…

This is a bit offtopic but I'm sure Boeing has their hands tied in some ways (as SpaceX) since a lot of positions require either a security clearance and/or are exclusive for Americans due to government rules (especially for military projects)
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