Airlines taking delivery of 787 Dreamliners, built at Boeing’s South Carolina facility, are complaining about ongoing production mistakes and quality control issues.
The Post and Courier of Charleston was first to publish the latest string of news on this topic, releasing an article on 3rd of August 2019 with airline feedback.
This isn’t the first time this particular factory has been under fire; previous reports show workers are subject to poor conditions and a strong trend of laziness in the clean up of new aircraft.
Facing ongoing issues with the 737 MAX, analysts are quick to state these claims could point to issues deeper within Boeing’s safety and well-being culture.
Scott Hamilton, an aerospace analyst for Leeham News and Analysis, had the following to say:
“Boeing Commercial Airplanes clearly has a systematic problem in designing , producing and delivery airplanes.”
The Post and Courier of Charleston’s article is the first to feature private criticism from Boeing customers, including some from the world’s top airlines.
KLM had significant negative feedback for the facility, calling the quality control “way below acceptable standards” following delivery of their first 787-10 Dreamliner.
Airline engineers that accepted the aircraft for delivery pointed to items such as: a loose seat, missing or incorrectly installed cotter pins, nuts not fully tightened, a poorly secured fuel line and several other small components.
A bold statement from KLM suggested Boeing’s staff are overworked to maintain production output of 14 787 Dreamliner aircraft monthly.
“A lot of Boeing personnel, factory and management, work way too much overtime. In this customers’s opinion, this reflects in quality and the inability to make schedule.”
KLM Staff via The Post and Courier
Etihad was forced to delay three 787 deliveries, as a result of incomplete work after departing the factory.
Summarising the delivery experience, Etihad said it was “very bad and not good for Boeing and Etihad”.
The launch customer for the larger and newest member of the Dreamliner family, the 787-10, Singapore Airlines said scratches were identified on a flight deck windshield and required replacement.
Additionally parts were found missing around the aircraft, forcing engineers to hunt for spares.
Perhaps the most serious and bizarre find by the airline were four work lights left in the tail fuselage section, which is a continuation from past reports of airlines finding ladders and lights in this area.
“Compared to experience on previous 787 deliveries*, this was hardly smooth.”
*Likely noting Scoot’s 787 Dreamliner deliveries
American Airlines had the most interesting complaint, primarily because it linked to great concern around the 737 MAX.
On their feedback submission, American Airlines expressed concern about engineers having the ability to tick off 90 percent of their own work. This removes the need for a second quality control check.
Changing things up a bit, United Airlines gave Boeing an almost perfect score of 4.86 out of 5, despite identifying 20 production problems that delayed the maiden flight of an aircraft.
Referring back to our previous article on Boeing 787 production issues, we referenced a New York Times story that cited internal emails, corporate documents, federal records and interviews with more than a dozen employees.
The result of these source findings found workers installed faulty parts, metal shavings were found on critical avionics wiring and aircraft were signed off without undergoing a complete check.
“I’ve just told my wife that I never plan to fly on it. It’s just a safety issue.”
Joseph Clayton, Factory Technician at Boeing SC
In a statement to the media, Boeing noted they work with customers to “demonstrate the highest standards of safety and quality, which is evident by the 787 Dreamliner’s excellent record of safety and reliability in service.”
Scoring an overall score of 3.5 out of 5, this new information provides further insight into the work culture of the company.
The Department of Justice has already issued subpoenas to multiple employees of the North Charleston facility, as they are investigating the growing reports of poor production quality.
Since its inauguration, this facility has been slammed by reports and complaints regarding the production quality of aircraft.
Scott Hamilton says the recent surveys are “consistent with the stories that have been told about North Charleston pretty much since it opened”.
He added that it was well known in the industry that the site was problematic when it came to manufacturing the type.
Relying on the success of the 787 program, Boeing is hoping to offset the impact caused by the grounding of the 737 MAX.
This leads Scott Hamilton to believe Boeing won’t adjust their culture at the North Charleston facility anytime soon, as they’re so heavily focused on repairing their cash-making 737.
Additionally Boeing is aggressively pushing for a flawless flight test campaign of the 777X, after recent engine delays inspired the prospect of delivery woes.
What’s your take on these reports?
This is ultimately about shareholder profits; they don’t care about anything else.
Very Good Article with useful content .Thanks for info
I feel Boeing executives, management & H.R. should all board every first flight of every aircraft before being delivered to their customers! I think that would quickly change the culture of the company!
The article is very interesting with very good content. Thanks for info
Good content. Thanks for info
The Honest truth about
the unacceptable , shoddy workmanship on various 787 parts from the SC Boeings factory ,is totally unaccptable.
There is an easy solution to fixing this diabolical embarrassment – Dismiss ( layoff )the guilty embicles.
Sooner the better.
As a cpnsumer, how are we to tell if a plane was manufacturesd in Seattle or North Carolina? And why should I ever have to worry about that?
A good way to identify where aircraft are manufactured regardless of manufacturer is visiting Planespotters.net, where you can narrow down an airlines fleet to a specific aircraft via registration and you can view its serial number, manufacturing location, engines etc. These reports are concerning and I agree with your question about why we should have to worry.
Having worked with safety critical parts for nearly 30 years, viewed objectively there is a cultural problem at Boeing. No doubt they have the rules and tools for acceptable quality, but the behaviors must change. NC is this way now, but no doubt Seattle is also well on their way to similar circumstances. Top management sets the tone for safety and quality – there is no room for such negligence when lives are at stake. Time to clean house, Boeing.
This is what happens when CEO’s have their head up Wall Street’s butt, and focus on the myopic quarter to quarter crap that Wall St. pushes instead of doing the right thing for the company and its employees. It finally caught up to the corner cutting, penny pinching culture at Boeing with the Max debacle.
There seems to be a striking difference in Boeing production between Washington (Seattle area, Renton) and South Carolina. South Carolina is a union-busting state that doesn’t have to care about its workers, and Washington is not. Maybe we should all encourage basic respect for the folks who put our jets together? It terrifies me that Airbus is starting production in Alabama, another :”right to work”, aka, union-busting, state. Save a buck, but at what cost? Disclaimer – I have never belonged to a union.
I’ve worked in aerospace for over 30 years union and non-union. In the non-union shops keep your mouth shut or get fired, in a union shop the company retaliates against workers who bring violations of company policies: safety, quality & environmental issues.
I don’t know how things are done in SC. but at the Boeing I worked at in Seattle and Everett, any dissatisfaction of the customer was treated seriously and was fixed both on the airplane in question, also an investigation would try to go back and fix the problem so it wouldn’t happen again.
Building world class aircraft is our livelihood in the Pacific Northwest and we have done it this way continuously improving for over 100 years, and for a reason. we are the best. Apparently, the people in SC have yet to figure this out.
This is in sharp contrast to how Airbus airplanes are delivered. The French build a perfect Airplane and no faults can ever be found by the customer. Because they are perfect, if the customer finds a problem, it is the customers problem not Airbus’s problem.
Hmmm “if it’s a Boeing 737 MAX and 787, I ain’t going!” [pun intended] 🙁
It appears that Boeing has taken on the industry killing attitude that saving a dime creates better short term profits. The reality is that saving that dime ends up costing many dollars later on, impacts later sales and the trust of the public. This was first obvious with the early assembly problems of the 787 due to relying of less expensive suppliers for major parts and appears to have extended to the problems with the 737 MAX and now to the problems with poor quality control on the 787.
If Boeing is to remain the leader in commercial and military aircraft, it needs to stop cutting corners on its production and development and recognize that making the quality aircraft required means you can’t just look at the short term savings by taking shortcuts and not providing good working conditions for your workers. Yes, getting it right the first time can affect short term profits, but the result is that Boeing’s customers will once again see Boeing’s aircraft at the planes to purchase That leads to higher long term profits.
As someone who likes to travel and is a very, very,very small Boeing stockholder, I call on Boeing Executive Management to recognize that reality and stop the short cuts.
Years ago I saw a report on Al-Jazeera America…it was a lengthy documentary about Boing factories and complaints from workers in S.Carolina factory who went undercover to videotape the inefficient and mismanagement that was going. Al-Jazeera America had at that time a good reputation regarding documentaries as they were well researched and created over months. They also interviewed workers in the Seattle plant at that time and they said on camera as well as the ones in S.C. they wouldn’t fly a plan coming out of the S.Carolina plant…now, S.C. does not have union representation vs. the one in Seattle. It’s a stark contrast and safety issue. Here’s a link to the entire documentary.
Gonna take a 787 crash for Boeing to get their shit together….just like the 737.
There have been rumors of significant management and work ethic issues at the Charleston facility. I watched a lengthy video produced by Al Jazeera about the topic, which had some shocking revelations. Given that it was Al Jazeera, I had some skepticism as they are not always objective; however, in light of these most recent revelations, I do believe that the Al Jazeera investigation uncovered legitimate concerns. Here is a link to that video report:
I live in the area and know some people who work there. Ever since the facility was completed there’s been major campaigns to unionize and a lot of pressure on workers from both sides. I don’t know for sure what the situation is now, but I think this distracts from a positive work environment. There still seems to be this ‘Us vs. Them’ mentality between NChas and Seattle.