Boeing Vows to Lift Output, Close 'Shadow Factories'

"SEATTLE -- Ihssane Mounir stood before the skeptical and anxious crowd filled with hundreds of manufacturers whose fortunes rise and fall with Boeing.

The Boeing executive ticked off a list of accomplishments -- fewer defects and more frequent supplier updates -- since he had addressed the group last February, weeks after a door-plug blew off an Alaska Airlines jet. Despite the progress, the supply-chain guru confessed a fundamental problem.

"We're selling more than we can build," he said.

Boeing is promising this year to get its jet production to precrisis levels and chip away at a growing backlog of orders. First, the manufacturer needs to clear out the dozens of planes in its shadow factories.

A shadow factory is what Boeing executives call a production line where engineers and mechanics work on fixing, maintaining or updating aircraft instead of building new ones. They exist for the company's two-bestselling models, the 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner.

As Boeing is struggling to hire and train enough machinists, the shadow factories can occupy some of the company's most experienced workers. In some cases, Boeing spends more hours inspecting and reworking planes than it did to produce them in the first place.

"It seems like 30% of everybody's job is fixing something that's bad quality or late product or something that shouldn't have happened," Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg told employees last year at his first town hall meeting.

Boeing burned through $14 billion last year. It built far fewer planes, first because of quality problems that slowed its production lines, then when a machinist strike stopped work for about two months. Ortberg aims to reverse its cash burn this year by pumping out 38 of its 737 MAX jets a month and closing the shadow factories by midyear. Analysts estimate the company produced about 20 in January.

There is also political pressure. President Trump, who has been frustrated by long-delayed replacements for Air Force One, said Wednesday he was "not happy" with Boeing. The following day, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he asked Ortberg to come to Washington to discuss quality and safety issues and that he planned to visit Boeing's factory.

"It's been a long journey," finance chief Brian West said in a call last month with analysts, referring to the shadow factories. He predicted Boeing will be rid of its pileup by the middle of this year and doing so will deliver a "massive productivity benefit."

It isn't the first time Boeing has pledged to solve its shadow-factory problem. The company had initially vowed to be rid of it by the end of 2024, but clearing out the planes has proven vexing.

The biggest chunk are MAXs parked at a facility in Moses Lake, Wash. They are mainly remnants of a global grounding of MAX jets following a pair of fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing continued making the planes even though airlines weren't taking them, and is still working to deliver them. Another couple of dozen are 787s sitting in Everett, Wash., awaiting checks to ensure parts of the planes are properly pieced together following quality questions raised years ago around the jet's production process.

A year ago, Boeing estimated it had about 225 jets in the shadow factories. It fell to 115 at the end of 2024, with Boeing clearing out a chunk of planes during last fall's machinists strike. Not only do the planes take up space and tie up billions in much-needed revenue, they require sophisticated care and reworking, which means some of the company's most skilled machinists are charged with fixing jets rather than with building new planes.

Any time a model requires an update or repair -- a common occurrence in machinery as complicated as a jetliner -- crews must do the relevant work on every unfinished plane. In the fall of 2023, for instance, the company had to repair around 160 737s in the shadow factory after misdrilled holes were found in the fuselage of a completed jet.

Doing away with shadow factories is one of the moves by Ortberg to tackle factory quality problems. The company is adding weeks of education for new hires, freeing up managers to spend more time on the factory floor and simplifying work instructions so they are easier to follow.

Boeing is also working to improve quality at its biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, which made the fuselage involved in the Alaska Airlines blowout. Ortberg said Spirit's work has improved to the point that Boeing has a pileup of pristine fuselages awaiting final assembly, a reversal from last year when a fuselage shortage was slowing Boeing's factories. The plane maker is in the process of acquiring Spirit, which it spun off decades ago." [1]

1.  EXCHANGE --- Boeing Vows to Lift Output, Close 'Shadow Factories'. Terlep, Sharon.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 15 Feb 2025: B9.

Vance'as kaltina Europos sąjungininkus represijomis

 

 „MIUNCHENAS – JAV viceprezidentas JD Vance'as penktadienį sukrėtė Europos sąjungininkus, apkaltindamas juos žodžio laisvės slopinimu ir rinkėjų valios ignoravimu tokiais klausimais, kaip masinė migracija.

 

 Vance'as teigė, kad didėjanti cenzūra, populistinių partijų izoliacija ir demokratijos erozija kelia didesnę grėsmę Europai, nei Rusija ar Kinija.

 

 „Europa susiduria su daugybe iššūkių, bet krizė, su kuria šiuo metu susiduria šis žemynas – krizė, su kuria susiduriate dabar – yra jūsų pačių sukurta“, – sakė jis Miuncheno saugumo konferencijoje. Vance'as sakė, kad konservatoriai buvo ištirti, suimti, patraukti baudžiamojon atsakomybėn arba nubausti baudomis už protestą prieš abortą ir savo nuomonės išreiškimą socialinėje žiniasklaidoje.

 

 Jis ragino Vokietijos politikus atsisakyti vadinamosios ugniasienės – pagrindinių partijų susitarimo nevaldyti kartu ir nebendradarbiauti su „Alternatyva Vokietijai“ arba AfD – kraštutinių dešiniųjų partija, kurią kai kurie laiko ekstremistine.

 

 Vokietijos gynybos ministras Borisas Pistorius, kuris retkarčiais pertraukdavo Vance'ą sušukdamas „Ne! – pavadino kalbą nepriimtina. Demokratija nereiškia, kad garsi mažuma turėtų nustatyti tiesą, sakė jis kalboje po Vance'o.

 

 „Esu dėkingas ir didžiuojuosi, kad gyvenu Europoje, kuri gina mūsų demokratiją ir mūsų gyvenimo būdą tiek nuo vidaus, tiek nuo išorės priešų“, – palydėtas garsiai plojimais, sakė Pistorius.

 

 Atrodė, kad Vance'as grasino, kad Amerika nepalaikys sąjungininkų, kurie, jo nuomone, slopina demokratiją.

 

 „Jei kandidatuojate, bijodami savo rinkėjų, aš nieko negaliu jums padaryti“, – sakė jis.

 

 Vance'as paminėjo įtariamą afganų imigranto teroristinį išpuolį Miunchene dieną prieš savo kalbą, kai automobilis įsirėžė į minią.

 

 „Nė vienas Europos rinkėjas nepriėjo prie balsadėžės, kad atvertų užtvaras milijonams ekonominių migrantų“, – sakė jis.

 

 Jis priekaištavo konferencijos organizatoriams už tai, kad uždraudė Vokietijos kraštutinių kairiųjų ir kraštutinių dešiniųjų partijoms dalyvauti.

 

 Pasak jo, lyderiai vis labiau slopina prieštaringas nuomones, prisidengdami kova su dezinformacija, kaip kadaise darė Sovietų komunistai.

 

 Vokietijos prezidentas Frankas-Walteris Steinmeieris, susitikęs su Vance'u, sakė, kad D. Trumpo administracijos pasaulėžiūra „neturi tapti dominuojančia paradigma“.

 

 „Taisyklių nebuvimas neturi tapti pagrindiniu naujos pasaulio tvarkos principu“, – sakė jis, tvirtindamas, kad Rusija ir Kinija iš to gautų daugiausia naudos.

 

 Kai kurie JAV demokratai taip pat peikė Vance'o kreipimąsi. „Man buvo gėda dėl Amerikos“, – sakė kongreso delegacijos konferencijoje narys senatorius Andy Kimas (D, N. J.).

 

 Ne visi konferencijos dalyviai nesutiko su Vance'u. Daugelis plojo jo kalbai, o kai kurie iš auditorijos lyderių vėliau pasakė, kad jis buvo teisus tam tikrais klausimais.

 

 Savo baigiamojoje kalboje V.Vance'as išjuokė protestus Vokietijoje prieš Elono Musko kampaniją už AfD per vasario 23 d. interviu.

 

 „Vokietijos demokratija išgyvens Eloną Muską“, - sakė Vance'as, bet neišgyvens, „sakydama dešimtims milijonų jūsų pačių rinkėjų, kad jų mintys ir rūpesčiai, jų siekiai, prašymai palengvinti ir jų balsai yra neteisingi ir neverti dėmesio“.

 

 Steinmeieris atsakė: „Man kelia didelį susirūpinimą matyti, kaip nedidelė elito grupė verslininkų turi ir priemonių, ir noro perrašyti didelę liberaliosios demokratijos knygos dalį.“ [1]

 

Naujai išrastas ES elito sugebėjimas skandinti demokratiją veda prie uždaros grupės mąstymo, atitraukto nuo realybės, prarandančio daug pinigų ir politinio kapitalo. ES viduje auga chaosas.

1. World News: Vance Accuses European Allies of Repression. Pancevski, Bojan; Ward, Alexander; Norman, Laurence.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 15 Feb 2025: A7.

Vance Accuses European Allies of Repression

"MUNICH -- Vice President JD Vance blasted European allies Friday, accusing them of repressing free speech and ignoring the will of voters on issues such as mass migration.

Vance said growing censorship, isolation of populist parties and the erosion of democracy posed a greater threat to Europe than Russia or China.

"Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now -- the crisis you face right now -- is one of your own making," he said at the Munich Security Conference. Vance said conservatives have been investigated, arrested, prosecuted or fined for protesting abortion and expressing their views on social media.

He called for German politicians to abandon the so-called firewall, an agreement among mainstream parties not to govern or collaborate with the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, a far-right party that some see as extremist.

Germany's minister of defense, Boris Pistorius -- who occasionally interrupted Vance with cries of "No!" -- called the speech unacceptable. Democracy doesn't mean a loud minority should determine truth, he said in a speech after Vance.

"I am grateful and proud to live in a Europe that defends our democracy and our way of life, both against internal and against external enemies," Pistorius said to loud applause.

Vance appeared to threaten that America wouldn't support allies who, in his view, are stifling democracy.

"If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing I can do for you," he said.

Vance cited a suspected terrorist attack by an Afghan immigrant in Munich a day before his speech, when a car slammed into a crowd.

"No voter in Europe went to the ballot box to open the floodgates to millions of economic migrants," he said.

He chastised conference organizers for what he said was banning the far-left and far-right parties of Germany from attending.

Leaders are increasingly repressing dissenting views under the guise of fighting disinformation, as the Soviet Communists once did, he said.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who met with Vance, said the Trump administration's worldview "must not become the dominant paradigm."

"The absence of rules must not become the guiding principle of a new world order," he said, arguing that Russia and China would benefit most.

Some U.S. Democrats also panned Vance's address. "I was embarrassed for America," said Sen. Andy Kim (D, N.J.), a member of the congressional delegation to the conference.

Not all conference participants disagreed with Vance. Many applauded his speech, while some of the leaders in the audience later said he was right on certain points.

In his concluding remarks, Vance ridiculed protests in Germany against Elon Musk's campaigning for the AfD in the Feb. 23 elections.

"German democracy will survive Elon Musk," Vance said, but won't survive "telling tens of millions of your own voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief, and their votes are invalid and unworthy of consideration."

Steinmeier said in response, "It causes me great concern to see how a small elite group of businesspeople has both the means and the desire to rewrite a significant part of the liberal democracy playbook."" [1]

New found ability of EU elites to quench democracy leads to closed group thinking removed from reality, loss of money, and political capital. Chaos is growing in the EU.

1. World News: Vance Accuses European Allies of Repression. Pancevski, Bojan; Ward, Alexander; Norman, Laurence.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 15 Feb 2025: A7.