Boeing ousts the head of its 737 Max program after Alaska Airlines’ midair blowout
Boeing Co. ousted the head of its 737 Max program after a midair blowout of a fuselage panel on an Alaska Airlines jet led to withering scrutiny of the manufacturing quality of the plane maker’s most important model.
Ed Clark, who helped ramp up 737 production in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, is stepping down effective immediately after nearly 18 years at Boeing, the company said Wednesday. Katie Ringgold succeeds Clark as vice president and general manager of the 737 program and Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash.
Boeing is also promoting Elizabeth Lund, a longtime engineering and operations leader, to a newly created post that will give her companywide oversight of quality measures.
Lund was named senior vice president for quality at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. She will also serve on the executive committee as chair of the company’s quality operations council.
The management changes are the first undertaken since the company was plunged into crisis after a door plug exploded off a nearly new 737 Max on Jan. 5.
What’s a ‘door plug’ and why do airliners have them? How does a smartphone still work after falling three miles? We have answers to these and other questions stemming from Alaska Flight 1282.
U.S. regulators have sent teams of inspectors to Boeing’s factories to review its quality controls and those of the supplier that makes most of the 737 Max’s fuselage. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Aviation Administration has barred Boeing from increasing production rates for the cash-cow jet until the regulator is convinced the company has an adequate handle on the quality of work in its factories.
Clark’s exit is part of a broader shakeup announced by commercial chief Stan Deal in an internal memo Wednesday. Deal and Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun face pressure from regulators, lawmakers, airlines and investors to address a spate of high-profile manufacturing defects that have disrupted production since the COVID pandemic waned.
Investigators have said that the panel on the Alaska plane should have been secured by four retaining bolts, but those crucial parts were missing from the aircraft when it left Boeing’s Renton factory.
Boeing’s airplane division is working to ensure “that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements,” Deal said in the memo. “Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less.”
Lund had previously overseen production of all Boeing commercial aircraft, including the 737. Mike Fleming succeeds her as senior vice president and general manager of airplane programs and will work closely with her to implement the manufacturer’s quality initiatives and minimize work that has to be redone or performed out of sequence due to late-arriving parts, Deal said.
FAA personnel are working through a six-week audit of Boeing’s practices. The agency’s findings are expected to inform recommendations for reforms by the company.
The regulator also launched an investigation into Boeing after the Alaska accident, and has embedded more staff into Boeing’s factories as part of an enhanced oversight push in the wake of the accident and a string of other quality lapses.
Shares of Boeing closed 0.9% lower Wednesday in New York. Its stock has tumbled 23% this year, the worst performance among the 30 members of the Dow Jones industrial average.
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