Former Boeing inspector alleges ‘scrap’ parts ended up on assembly lines
CNN
A former Boeing quality-control manager alleges that for years workers at its 787 Dreamliner factory in Everett, Washington, routinely took parts that were deemed unsuitable to fly out of an internal scrap yard and put them back on factory assembly lines .
A former Boeing quality-control manager alleges that for years workers at its 787 Dreamliner factory in Everett, Washington, routinely took parts that were deemed unsuitable to fly out of an internal scrap yard and put them back on factory assembly lines . In his first network TV interview, Merle Meyers, a 30-year veteran of Boeing, described to CNN what he says was an elaborate off-the-books practice that Boeing managers at the Everett factory used to meet production deadlines, including taking damaged and improper parts from the company’s scrapyard, storehouses and loading docks. A string of whistleblowers this year has raised allegations about Boeing factory lapses, including an official federal complaint from a current employee that Boeing hid potentially defective parts from Federal Aviation Administration inspectors, and that some of those parts likely ended up in planes. This all comes in the wake of a series of highly public safety issues that have rocked the company. Meyers’ claims that lapses he witnessed were intentional, organized efforts designed to thwart quality control processes in an effort to keep up with demanding production schedules. Beginning in the early 2000s, Meyers says that for more than a decade, he estimates that about 50,000 parts “escaped” quality control and were used to build aircraft. Those parts include everything from small items like screws to more complex assemblies like wing flaps. A single Boeing 787 Dreamliner, for example, has approximately 2.3 million parts.