The Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug incident is still fermenting, and the previous person in charge of the 737 MAX has become the latest "backstabber". The latest news reveals: Boeing fired the head of the 737 MAX project. On Feb. 21, Ed Clark, vice president and general manager of the 737 Max program, who helped increase 737 production capacity in the post-pandemic era, resigned from Boeing, an 18-year veteran of Boeing.
Ed Clark, vice president and general manager of the 737 Max program, has left Boeing after talking to employees in Renton on last month's downtime day to discuss ways to improve the quality of the production line.
Succeeding Clark is Katie Ringgold, who has a degree in commerce and began her aviation career performing avionics system maintenance and troubleshooting for the U.S. Air Force's C-130 freighters. Ringold joined Boeing's production facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, in 2011, where he was promoted to Senior Quality Manager.
In 2019, Ringold was relocated to the Puget Sound region to be responsible for aircraft deliveries at all Boeing Commercial Aircraft Delivery Centers in Seattle, Everett, North Charleston, and Zhoushan, China. Subsequently, she became Vice President of 737 Delivery Operations, where she was responsible for delivering goods from Seattle to customers, as well as conducting pre-delivery flights in Renton, and overseeing and caring for MAX aircraft parked at Moses Lake, Seattle Plant 2, and San Antonio.
Boeing has also promoted longtime head of engineering and operations Elizabeth Lund to Boeing Commercial Aircraft's senior vice president of quality, and she will also serve on Boeing's executive committee as chair of the company's quality operations committee. This is a newly created position in which she is responsible for Boeing-wide oversight of quality measures.
On January 5, a 737 Max 9 doorstopper, which had only been delivered for a few months, was blown open in mid-air, plunging Boeing into a new quality crisis. The management change is also the latest move Boeing has taken to address the crisis. U.S. regulators have also sent inspectors to Boeing factories to review quality control as well as quality control by the top vendors.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took the unprecedented step of banning Boeing from increasing the productivity of the cash cow jet until the FAA was convinced that the aircraft manufacturer was sufficiently sure of the quality of work at its factories.
Clark's resignation is part of a broader restructuring announced by Boeing's commercial chief, Stan Deere, in an internal memo. Deere and Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun are under pressure from regulators, lawmakers, airlines and investors to address a series of high-profile manufacturing flaws that have disrupted production since the pandemic receded.
Investigators said the panels on the Alaskan plane were supposed to be held in place by four fixing bolts, but those critical components were missing when the plane left the Boeing Renton plant.
In the memo, Deere said Boeing's aircraft division is working to ensure that "every aircraft we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements." Our customers ask for it and it's worth it. ”
Lund previously oversaw the production of all Boeing commercial aircraft, including the 737. Mike Fleming succeeds her as senior vice president and general manager of aircraft programs and will work closely with her to implement the manufacturer's quality program and minimize the work that has to be redone or, according to Deere, executed in the wrong order due to late parts.
FAA personnel are conducting a six-week audit of Boeing. The agency's findings are expected to inform the company's reform proposals. Regulators also launched an investigation into Boeing in the wake of the Alaska accident and sent more employees to Boeing factories as part of increased regulation after the accident and a series of other quality errors.
Boeing on Wednesday in New York ***09%。The stock has been **23% this year, making it the worst performer among the 30 constituents of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.