Boeing has been on a wild ride over the last few weeks — usually several articles in each week (and sometimes two articles in the same edition. Today’s front page article is by Lauren Rosenblatt (Seattle Times staff reporter). Looks like the shit shoveling required extra hands so Dominic Gates got some additional help!
Basically, the door plug blowout happened just before the agreement to defer criminal charges expired. The DOJ says that Boeing violated that agreement and is starting to open the door for federal prosecutors to go to work.
Some of the information coming out of the blowout is that Boeing still doesn’t seem to have a good end to end tracking system for planned OR repair work — and the system that handles the completion is off on its own — and actual completion documentation doesn’t get documented and there’s no “nag” function to make sure people follow up.
According to the DOJ:
- Review its existing internal policies for compliance, particularly focused on the company’s interactions with government agencies, including the FAA;
- Make modifications or adopt a new compliance program, if necessary;
- Develop compliance policies based on a periodic risk assessment of the company;
- And, continue to review its compliance policies every year.
And, as this and a number of previous articles have pointed out in the last few weeks;
Federal prosecutors also found that Boeing failed to “create a culture of ethics and compliance in its day-to-day operations.” The agreement specified that Boeing’s directors and senior managers must offer strong, explicit support for compliance with U.S. fraud laws, and that middle managers should reinforce those standards. It said Boeing must tell all employees that “compliance … is the duty of individuals at all levels.”
There is still an amazing amount of confusion in the Boeing/Spirit/etc. workforce. Boeing management has not been particularly diligent (understatement of the year so far) at cleaning the system up or clearly defining and significantly improving QA practices and oversight.
