A six-week audit of Boeing’s 737 Max production by the Federal Aviation Administration has found dozens of problems throughout the manufacturing process at the aircraft manufacturer and a major supplier.
The investigation was launched by aviation safety regulators after a hatch came off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 earlier this year in January. Last week, the agency announced that an audit had found “multiple instances” in which Boeing and its supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, had failed to comply with quality-control requirements, but did not provide specific details about the findings.
A more detailed description of what the audit found was provided. The findings provide additional evidence of production failures at Boeing, whose quality control measures have been rigorously audited since the Alaska Airlines incident.
In the investigative portion of the case against Boeing, the FAA conducted 89 product audits, which look at all aspects of the production process. The plane maker passed 56 of them and failed another 33, for a total of 97 cases of suspected non-compliance, according to the report.
As part of the investigation, the FAA also conducted 13 product audits of AeroSystems, which makes the fuselage for the 737 Max. Six of those audits resulted in compliance and seven in non-compliance, according to the report.
A document describing some of the findings shows that during the investigation, the FAA saw Spire mechanics using hotel door cards to check the seals of cabin doors. The operation was “not identified/documented/required in the production order,” the document said.
In another instance, the document shows, the FAA saw a Spectrum mechanic apply a Dawn soap solution to a door seal “as a lubricant during installation.” The mechanic then cleaned the door seal with a wet muslin cloth, the document said, adding that the instructions were “vague and did not make it clear what specifications/operations the mechanic was supposed to follow or document.”
Asked if it was appropriate to use a hotel door card or soap solution in such a situation, Spectrum spokesman Joe Buccino said the company was “auditing all identified nonconformities for corrective action.”
Boeing did not immediately comment on the results of the audit, and in late February, the FAA asked the company to develop a quality-control improvement plan within 90 days. In response, the company’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun, said “we know exactly what needs to be done,” citing the audit in part.
Boeing said this month that it is in talks to buy Spectrum, which Boeing spun off in 2005. Buccino said Monday that Spire has received the preliminary findings of the FAA audit and plans to work with Boeing to address the issues raised by regulators. He said Spectrum’s goal is to reduce the number of defects and errors in its processes to zero.
“In the meantime, we will continue to take multiple steps to improve our safety and quality programmes,” Buccino said. “These improvements focus on human factors and other steps to minimise non-compliance.”
The FAA said it could not disclose specific details of the audit because it is investigating Boeing in response to the Alaska Airlines incident. On top of that, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating why the hatch panel came off the plane and the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation.
The slide presentation showed that during the FAA’s investigation, the agency deployed as many as 20 auditors at Boeing and about six at Spectrum. Boeing assembles the 737 Max at its plant in Renton, Wash. and Spectrum builds the plane’s fuselage at its plant in Wichita, Kansas.
The audit of Boeing was extensive, covering many parts of the 737 Max, including the wings and various other systems.
According to the slides, many of the problems the auditors found fell under the category of failure to follow “approved manufacturing processes, procedures, or instructions.” Others involved quality control documentation.
One of the audits focused on the component that caused the Alaska Airlines plane to fall off, a door plug. According to the report, Boeing failed this inspection. Some of the audit’s findings were related to inspections and quality control documents, though the report did not detail specific findings.
The FAA’s investigation also addressed Boeing employees’ knowledge of the company’s quality control processes. The agency interviewed six of the company’s engineers and scored their responses, with an overall average score of just 58 per cent.
An audit conducted at Spectrum focusing on door plug assemblies found five problems. One of the issues, the report said, was that Boeing “failed to provide evidence that minor design changes were approved in accordance with FAA-acceptable methods.” The report did not specify what design changes were made.
Another audit involved the installation of door plugs, which was one of the audits that Spire failed. Auditors expressed concern about the Spirex technicians responsible for the work and found that the company “failed to identify the knowledge required to operate its processes.”
Other audits that Spire failed included one involving cargo doors and one involving the installation of cockpit windows.
