Boeing's woes mirror challenges faced by American manufacturing industry

Recently, Boeing has found itself engulfed in a maelstrom of safety concerns and public scrutiny. Last Monday, a Boeing plane en route from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand, had a technical fault, necessitating an emergency descent that resulted in a sudden and violent plunge, leading to at least 50 injuries. This event stands as the most recent in a series of safety incidents involving Boeing aircraft over the past three months. Since 2024, Boeing's stock price has plummeted by over 25%. In a bold statement, CNN declared that “Boeing is in big trouble.”

Since the tragic crashes of Indonesia's Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights in October 2018 and March 2019, Boeing appears to have struggled to fully recover from a succession of safety-related incidents. In January of this year, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft experienced a mid-air incident, with its cabin door detaching. Prompted by this, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration initiated an audit of Boeing, revealing 97 instances of alleged noncompliance. Of the 13 audits conducted on the body supplier Spirit AeroSystems, over half failed to meet standards. Specific details within these findings are alarming, including reports of mechanics using liquid soap as a lubricant, utilizing hotel key cards to inspect cabin door seals, and even retrieving defective parts from waste bins for installation on aircraft. The aviation industry is serious, where every component, no matter how small, directly influences safety in the skies. Such matters cannot be dismissed as mere “technical events” by Boeing.

A Chinese proverb suggests that “ice three feet thick does not form in a single cold day.” In a widely circulated video reportedly filmed by Al Jazeera in 2014, some Boeing assembly line workers were shown to be using drugs. John Barnett, a retired Boeing employee recently reported to have taken his own life, had been vocal about numerous issues within Boeing and had even filed a lawsuit. Had these concerns been addressed by Boeing earlier, many accidents and tragedies might have been averted. China, a significant customer of Boeing, has urged the company to take action and promptly rectify the issues highlighted by these accidents and investigations.

Moreover, the decline of Boeing, a company once revered for its quality and innovation, reflects its trajectory over the past few decades. The global public perception, particularly in the United States, has prompted deep introspection, on issues such as the erosion of talented engineering expertise and the unchecked outsourcing of production processes to cut expenses. However, the primary cause lies in Boeing’s departure from its founding principles, shifting its core values from prioritizing safety to prioritizing profits. Without effective oversight and a strong sense of responsibility, “Boeing, like so many American companies, seems to be coasting on a reputation it built up over decades,” as astutely observed in a commentary by The Guardian, pinpointing the fundamental challenges confronting the American manufacturing industry.

The slogan of “reindustrialization” has been resoundingly championed by various U.S. administrations, often positioning China as a hindrance in this endeavor. In recent days, the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai accused China of “harming American workers and businesses,” suggesting that the issues within the U.S. manufacturing industry could be readily resolved if their Chinese competitors just disappeared.

Boeing and Airbus stand as the dominant forces in the aircraft manufacturing industry, facing no significant competition. Of the two, Boeing particularly dominates the domestic market in the U.S. It becomes evident that Washington’s pursuit of manufacturing superiority essentially mirrors an amplified version of Boeing. The predicament, however, is that Boeing has now fallen behind Airbus on the global stage, a circumstance largely attributable to Boeing's own actions. (Global Times)