[mnbion]

Most Airbus manufacturing happens in or near big cities like Toulouse, Hamburg, and Seville. These cities have plenty of engineering talent and plenty of colleges, universities, and other companies creating and nurturing this talent.

Meanwhile most Boeing manufacturing seems to be taking place in rural areas (or "flyover states" as you Americans put it). This is of course because of the local and state subsidies that Boeing is getting to create jobs. The question is if the lack of engineering talent in these rural areas is beginning to show its face.

Even in my tiny country (Denmark) there is significant decrease in quality of engineering talent outside the tier 1 cities.

[liquidgecka]

That's a pretty awful take on engineering culture. I grew up in a city that is one of the most remote in the US and it creates a massive engineering pipeline. It started with civil engineering but moved into ICs, utility power, trains, on and on. Those companies helped build an engineering college which in turn trained engineers.. etc.

None of those companies have had issues getting talent. Not all good engineers want to live in mega urban areas and infact it was quite easy pulling talent away with the promise of a back yard and skiing fifteen minutes away if said talent had kids. Especially when the salary goes 2x as far.

[sbierwagen]

The 737 is made at Boeing Renton and Boeing Everett, two factories in the Seattle area, Boeing's home town, that have been running since the 40s. Fuselages are made at the former Wichita plant, which also dates from the 40s.

737's problems do not stem from being made at a new plant.

[Omniusaspirer]

Traditional engineering in the US pays pretty poorly, not enough to live comfortably in T1 cities. My civil, chemical, and mechanical engineering friends all live and work in “fly over” states for major multinationals.

[hyperpape]

Which rural areas are you thinking of? Toulouse and Seville are really not that big (they’re both around the size of Oklahoma City when considering their metro areas). Hamburg is quite a bit bigger.

[JonChesterfield]

The designs are unsound and the strategy for fixing is to persuade the regulators to look the other way. No way to blame that on the manufacturing teams.