Boeing’s 777 assembly line at Everett, Washington, is reportedly in a state of disarray, according to information published in The Seattle Times on September 9, 2024.
The report, which quotes anonymous sources within the company, describes a chaotic work environment in which some airframes are rushed through the production line and need to be completed later outside of the regular sequence, potentially exposing them to production defects.
The same article also describes how, in some other cases, the process to assemble the fuselage panels for 777 airliners is taking longer than originally planned due to inexperienced labor. The report cites sources as claiming that this part of the manufacturing process has been experiencing regular quality issues for years.
These damning claims have appeared at a time when the aircraft manufacturer is facing industrial unrest from trade unions. On September 8, 2024, Boeing said it had reached a tentative agreement with union representatives, which would prevent 33,000 of its machinists from going on strike.
The deal, which still has to be ratified, would see some average wage rises of 33% across some professional categories as well as some other benefits, a figure that is still short of the 40% that unions requested. There is also still some uncertainty about whether the workers will approve the deal.
The threat of strike is one of the factors mentioned by the whistleblowers interviewed by The Seattle Times as contributing to the ongoing quality issues. According to the claims this would be due to Boeing aiming to speed up certain steps of the assembly process to prevent unfinished airframes from being held up on the production line.
These revelations as well as the industrial turmoil represent yet another challenge for the company’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, as he starts his tenure at the helm of the aircraft making giant.