Boeing's 787 Dreamliner could be a nightmare

According to media reports, Beijing time on April 10, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating complaints about the safety of Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

"The 787 has parts of the fuselage that are not connected properly, which can weaken the structural integrity of the aircraft over time, and repairs and testing are done in the wrong way," a Boeing employee involved in the plane's construction alleged.

"More than 1,000 787 Dreamliners are at risk of ending their service lives early due to parts missing during production." Such omissions could cause what is known as "significant fatigue" in key parts of the aircraft, particularly in the joints where the large fuselage cylinders are joined.

Boeing shares fell more than 2.5% on the news, hitting a new session low of $176.77 and falling to a five-month low.

Boeing shares have fallen more than 31% this year, making them the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In recent years, Boeing has frequently suffered safety accidents caused by product quality problems, such as the accident of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in January 2024. When the aircraft climbed to a height of about 16,000 feet, the emergency escape door separated from the fuselage, resulting in loss of cabin pressure. It has raised concerns about the safety of Boeing's 737 MAX 9 aircraft.

From March 4 to 11 this year, within a short week, Boeing aircraft had four safety incidents, such as engine fire, tire drop, sliding off the runway after landing and hydraulic oil leakage.

The reasons behind Boeing's frequent quality problems and safety accidents are complex and diversified. The current situation of Boeing is not only the reflection of its own strategy and decision-making management problems, but also reveals the broader problems existing in the American manufacturing industry.

First, Boeing's industry is hollowing out. What appears to be a major problem in the production process, a manufacturing defect, caused by engineers ignoring warnings about safety and process quality in some of the installation and assembly steps, is actually due to the hollowing out of the industry that Boeing and the U.S. manufacturing industry are facing.

With the transfer of productivity overseas, the control ability of the US manufacturing industry in core technologies and key links is gradually declining. This may not only lead to disruption of the industrial chain, but also to the loss of skills in a range of important areas.

Excessive reliance on external suppliers. Some of the problems associated with Boeing were also caused by supply chain management, with its production process relying on hundreds of independent suppliers whose quality and reliability were not always guaranteed. This external dependence makes the problem complex and more difficult to solve.

Third, Boeing's short-term development thinking lacks a long-term perspective. Some of Boeing's problems reflect a common shortsighted view of American business culture that puts too much emphasis on near-term profits and stock price performance at the expense of long-term investment in research and development and quality improvements.

For Boeing, therefore, addressing the current crisis requires identifying and addressing these deep-seated issues. In the face of a significant brand trust crisis, a series of effective measures should be taken as soon as possible to make changes, continuously improve product quality, and improve the transparency of accident investigation, repair and prevention measures.

It will be a critical task for American manufacturing to focus on and understand the true root causes of these problems, otherwise, its dreams will be difficult to realize.