Effective immediately. Wow!

CFO Greg Smith to serve as interim CEO immediately until David Calhoun takes control on the Jan 13th.  Shares halted.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/23/business/boeing-dennis-muilenburg/index.html

About time someone took responsibility.  I read the MAX debacle has cost Boeing nearly $15B.  Imagine if I cost my employer even a fraction of that, my feet wouldnt touch the floor!  

He will surely receive a huge amount of money for not doing his job.

 

As someone who has a long history of working Quality Assurance, test director and acceptance officer for VERY high tech defense contracts, I was absolutely amazed that a company like Boeing, who along with other leading defense contractors helped found a great deal of quality control measures in use today, would have abandoned them as they did.  I guarantee you that the quality assurance division has been sitting back quietly saying "we told you so", though absent of any parties for being right, as always happens in cases like this.

Over my career I have lost count of the number of real world examples of ignoring quality assurance/control that I've seen, been a part of, taught or was read in on.  I am absolutely amazed both that it happened again and at the level of magnitude. Well, maybe not.

The unofficial but traditional mantra of the US Submarine Force (who runs the best quality control program on the planet) is "The Stupid Shall Be Punished".  As good as that program is, there has been bean counting creep there too and some of the things I've seen done are just crazy.

I suspected Boeing was having major QA issues when the data came out about the 787 batteries. Not only should that have NEVER happened, it should have been the type of dire warning to the Boeing leadership that sharply snaps people's heads around that their controls and oversight of subcontractors and providers were severely lacking, and I strongly suspected that it was indicative of a much more systemic problem internal to Boeing and other defense contractors.

That said, you'll never, ever guess who is really to blame here.  Ready?  Bill Clinton and his former Vice President AL Gore (especially him I'm told), who bought into and then forced an incredibly stupid plan to save money on government and defense contracts by eliminating a HUGE amount of quality control oversight on contractors.  They claimed that it was too expensive to train and maintain government representatives to monitor quality assurance, and that the real technical experts where the ones at the companies and that we should just trust them.  So, lead by the government, companies began to do the same thing with their suppliers and sub-contractors and the government could not complain because they lead the way and signed off on it.  "Just trust them".  Of course the leading contractors loved it because doing business this way saved them money and increased their profits, while placing people's lives at risk.  Just how much is a human life worth?  Boeing may well find out, and the US Taxpayers will pay for it some way, of that I'm sure.

Blind leading the Blind, again.  Forgive my rage at what happened at Boeing, but as a professional in the field I'm just as angry as if I'd been working there.  I hope the now former Boeing CEO never, ever is in a position to fail to prevent such a thing from happening again.

The money Boeing saved is now coming home to roost and pay them back, with loads of interest.

The Stupid shall indeed, be punished.

 

 

Looks as if he was FIRED .from the NY Times:

• Dec. 23, 2019Updated 10:05 a.m. ET

Boeing on Monday fired its chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, whose handling of the company’s 737 Max crisis had angered lawmakers, airlines, regulators and victims’ families.

The company said Dave Calhoun, the chairman, would replace Mr. Muilenburg on Jan. 13. Until then, Boeing’s chief financial officer, Greg Smith, will serve as interim chief executive, the company said.

The Boeing board made the decision on a call on Sunday, after a string of disastrous announcements for the company, according to two people briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Mr. Muilenburg has stepped down effective immediately.

 

And the stock market seems to think his departure is good news for the company. From CNBC:

 

"Dow rises 100 points to kick off the holiday week, Boeing shares lead the gains..."

35 minutes ago, DaveCT2003 said:

Blind leading the Blind.

The money Boeing saved is now coming home to roost and pay them back, with loads of interest.

The Stupid shall indeed, be punished.

All of your post is spot on. I expected this type of fix after seeing them putting lipstick on the pig that is today's Boeing. All day Sunday they were so proud of the fact that even though they missed the Space Station, they were indeed able to eventually to hit the earth. I guess we were expected to be impressed by all the pretty lights, clipboards and checklist out there in the desert. I feel so much better now that they have replaced one over paid pin head with another over paid pin head. Brings to mind "Stupid is as Stupid does". Think about that the next time you check in at the Airport and see that today you are flying on a Boeing aircraft. It was proudly designed by rent-a-programmer and rent-a-engineer from Brain Surgeon Dot Com.

1 hour ago, DaveCT2003 said:

 

The money Boeing saved is now coming home to roost and pay them back, with loads of interest.

The Stupid shall indeed, be punished.

 

 

A most interesting post, and another example of the worldwide race to the bottom that seems to happening before our eyes.

Ive been on widebody Boeings for over 20 years but in 18 months I have to decide on joining a new fleet, either Boeing or Airbus. I’m now finding  that choice isn’t  as black and white as it used to be as my confidence in `Boeing’s products has been knocked somewhat recently.

 

6 minutes ago, jon b said:

A most interesting post, and another example of the worldwide race to the bottom that seems to happening before our eyes.

Ive been on widebody Boeings for over 20 years but in 18 months I have to decide on joining a new fleet, either Boeing or Airbus. I’m now finding  that choice isn’t  as black and white as it used to be as my confidence in `Boeing’s products has been knocked somewhat recently.

 

Just booked round trip flights on Delta's Flagship A350. Intentionally, somewhat! I wouldn't have considered that 5 years ago.

There was no "punishment" where upper management is concerned.  The former CEO will leave with a multi-million dollar golden parachute.  Just like politicians and high-level govt. officials almost never get punished for breaking the law.

Dave

16 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

There was no "punishment" where upper management is concerned.  The former CEO will leave with a multi-million dollar golden parachute.  Just like politicians and high-level govt. officials almost never get punished for breaking the law.

Dave

I agree with every word of this statement except "almost"

2 hours ago, BillW said:

He will surely receive a huge amount of money for not doing his job.

 

He'll make out much better than the employees who will be laid off after the shutdown of the MAX line.

3 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

About time someone took responsibility.  I read the MAX debacle has cost Boeing nearly $15B.  Imagine if I cost my employer even a fraction of that, my feet wouldnt touch the floor!  

There is  also a need to rock the boat at the FAA. 

 

Took too long, The shutdown of the line will also lead to a significant brain drain as well, it will take years to recover those losses in skilled engineers

4 hours ago, DaveCT2003 said:

"The Stupid Shall Be Punished"...

Oohh. I like that! I may need to put that on a t-shirt,even though I myself may fall foul of such a quote at times!  Not surprised that quote came from the Submarine community.

3 hours ago, shivers9 said:

....they were so proud of the fact that even though they missed the Space Station, they were indeed able to eventually to hit the earth...

That is one of the funniest things I've seen today. I thank you, sir!