r/boeing • u/Necessary_Sink3873 • 10d ago

Discussion

I’ve always been curious about something about Boeing from both an engineering and operations perspective.

People often discuss Boeing in terms of aircraft design, company decisions, manufacturing, certification, safety culture, airline pressure, etc. But I rarely see discussion on what Boeing still does exceptionally well compared to competitors.

For those who follow Boeing closely (engineers, aviation enthusiasts, pilots, maintenance crews, employees, passengers):

What do you think Boeing’s strongest area is today, and what do you think needs the biggest improvement?

Interested in hearing technical and non-technical perspectives.

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u/RedArrow23 10d ago

Strongest area (in supply chain atleast) is the culture of knowledge sharing. I could IM anyone about a niche question and they would either have an answer or find me someone who does. Most people have compliance as a top priority, so if a pro or bpi changes we step up to the plate to learn as much as possible about it and share that with our teams.

Weakest area is an understanding of what the rest of the company/business units do. I can’t tell you how often I get wildly complex parts with no history to buy that program expects to be built in 2 weeks.

Compensation is also pretty terrible for the amount of work and nonsense supply chain has fo put up with. I feel like because we are not an engineering function we do not get the same respect as other teams. Our own company has forgotten that we are the only role in the company that can get parts in the door and make sure program milestones are hit. Also, I would appreciate a nicer ping pong table

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u/InsideTheBoeingStore 10d ago

the amount of work and nonsense supply chain has to put up with.

not just supply chain but when you’re in other areas of the company and biz ops and finance tag team up your behind asking why things are late immediately after a change comes from up above and messes with everyone’s metrics

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u/RedArrow23 10d ago

Yup as if the PA can just bully the supplier into expediting

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u/InsideTheBoeingStore 10d ago

it’s sad especially with our legacy suppliers

the company cannot afford to lose the fragile number of options we are lucky to still have around

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u/RedArrow23 10d ago

Yeah seems like you get my struggle. I’m not gonna go off on a supplier that has provided perfect quality parts since before I was born.

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u/InsideTheBoeingStore 10d ago

yeah let’s piss them off no big deal we made the part before in 1970 we can just work off the drawing stashed away in a drawer somewhere /s

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u/BoringBob84 10d ago

I worked in a supplier role for a while. At one point, Boeing leadership was pounding their fists on the table, demanding that we deliver all of our parts on schedule. We tried to explain that we couldn't do that for several reasons - some Boeing caused, and some, we caused ourselves. But they wouldn't listen.

So we went out to the shop and talked to people there. We had parts that fit on the engines and other parts that fit into electronic racks. The technicians out there told us that they were ready to install the electronics but they didn't care about the engine parts because they didn't even have engines yet to install them on.

So we changed our focus, went late on the engine parts, and delivered the electronics on time.