Boeing factory worker says ‘Pressure to make miracles happen’: report

A technician at the planemaker’s 737 Max factory in Renton, Wash., told The Seattle Times there was “pressure just to perform miracles.”

Speaking to National Transportation Safety Board investigators in April, another employee at the Renton plant, who works on installing the seats, said there were problems with time management.

“You just have to work it out,” he said. “So if another crew is behind, we’ll just work on the next plane we need to work on.”

Asked what would make the process perfect, he said, “Probably making sure that when it comes to our day, everything is ready, like, completely.”

He added that 60 percent to 70 percent of the aircraft that come to his station are still waiting for other work to be done.

“They’re constantly traveling with defects. The line has to go on,” a line worker at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., plant told The Seattle Times.

Another employee at the Everett plant, which builds the 777 and 767 models, told the paper that this spring, an airplane arrived at their workstation “not nearly ready” for the team.

They added that the firm decided: “We’re behind on deliveries, we’ve got to make deliveries, we’ll take this plane because it’s close enough.”

According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, the Alaska Airlines 737 Max that lost a door stopper left the Boeing factory with key bolts missing.

In March, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said production needed to “slow down” to ensure quality.

Production of the 737 Max has been curtailed since the explosion, but some Boeing employees say they are still facing pressure.

The Seattle Times reported that at a recent union rally, Patric Boone, a machinist at the Everett plant, said employees were “over-managed and under-supported.”

“The house is on fire and they are focused on putting out the lights,” he added. “They don’t see the problem.”

In March, a team captain at the Renton plant told NTSB investigators, “Sometimes morale, right, can be low. We have a lot of turnover, especially because, you know, this can be a stressful job.”

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent after regular business hours over the Labor Day holiday.