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by Rapzid 858 days ago
It's crazy their supplier is delivering so many must-fix defects they have to have a warranty team on site to help fix them. Crazier that Boeing just let that get more and more out of hand instead of making Spirit get their shit together on their end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIAfCupuZ3w

Edit: Also that entire culture and dynamic between Boeing and Spirit on the production floor seems very toxic and driven by misaligned incentives. There should be zero place for bickering, aggressiveness, and finger pointing in that SAT channel. If something needs to be fixed Spirit needs to fix it with a smile. If Boeing and Spirit need to review who is responsible for what, and what needs fixing and doesn't, that should happen in review in a different setting. The production crews need to be able to execute on their processes and focus on the quality of the product without having timeline and budget concerns seeping into their day-to-day.

2 comments

When you gut a part of your company to spin it out as separate company that isn't going to have same union contracts and can be then squeezed as hard as possible...

First you create the reverse monopoly then ensure the toxicity, all in chasing supposed "value add" of final assembly and coordination (to paraphrase the Boeing CEO who made the strategy, who wasn't from McDonnell but was a Boeing lifer)

Spirit has no competition. How do you threaten the supplier who owns your production when you have no other options?
Considering we're talking about Boeing, who actually do the work Spirit does for them for the 737 for other airframes (making the fuselages), and used to do it in house for the 737 before too (in that same Wichita factory complex where Spirit is now, Spirit being the result of Boeing's monumentally stupid decision to divest), I think it's fair to say that Boeing can bring production back in house.
These sorts of what I like to call "reverse monopolies" are all over the place in US industry now. So many companies dumped out pieces of themselves to a single company that then supplies for all of them, removing the ability of those companies to actually compete with each other by differentiation.
It sure would be great if they just owned the supplier outright and could align incentives that way.
That you Dave Calhoun? I guess your replacement will figure it out and let us know.

Seriously though, that's a problem people getting paid sh* tons of money are supposed to be on top of.