Boeing’s Turnaround After 737 Max Crisis Threatened by Talent Exodus

[Elderberry]

Bloomberg by Julie Johnsson and Brett Haensel 7/25/2021

After calamity and years of restrained ambition under cost-obsessed executives, the company that was once a factory of dreams is losing workers to SpaceX and Amazon.

Boeing Co. will put its battered engineering reputation on the line again this week when its Starliner spacecraft blasts off from Florida with a load of supplies for the International Space Station.

The mission is a do-over of a 2019 trip that almost ended in calamity, and a dress rehearsal for the Boeing capsule's first flight with astronauts later this year. If successful, it would narrow the gap with an ascendant rival, SpaceX, and answer the latest space-faring feats by the billionaire founders of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.

A tour de force by Starliner might also help distract from a potential problem Boeing is facing back on earth: An exodus of some of the company's most experienced engineers that threatens its rebound from a bruising run that includes the grounding of its 737 Max jets after two fatal crashes and the plunge in global air travel amid the spread of Covid-19.

More than 3,200 engineers and technical workers have left the company’s Seattle airplane manufacturing hub since the start of last year, about 18% of the union that represents them, with only a scant number added behind. In all, Boeing is aiming to cut 23,000 employees — from its executive committee to the factory floor — through layoffs, buyouts and retirement initiatives it launched last year as it racked up record financial losses.

More: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-26/can-boeing-starliner-launch-pivot-from-737-max-woes-to-challenge-amazon-spacex

[IsailedawayfromFR]

As long as people have to work in/near Seattle, Boeing will continue an exodus of competent people who see no attraction in a government that subsidizes indolence like the burgeoning homeless population, and leadership which will not enforce laws protecting property and citizens.

[AARguy]

So true. Seattle is looking like an insane asylum out of control these days. I, for one, don't have it on my list of places to visit, let alone live. I have worked for Boeing helicopters at both its its Ridley Park, PA and Mesa, AZ facilities. I know Boeing as a caring, people oriented organization that was a joy to work for. It was loyal to its employees in every way imaginable.

Centering Boeing's massive operations in Seattle, however, is like establishing Disney World in the South Bronx.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

So true. Seattle is looking like an insane asylum out of control these days. I, for one, don't have it on my list of places to visit, let alone live. I have worked for Boeing helicopters at both its its Ridley Park, PA and Mesa, AZ facilities. I know Boeing as a caring, people oriented organization that was a joy to work for. It was loyal to its employees in every way imaginable.

Centering Boeing's massive operations in Seattle, however, is like establishing Disney World in the South Bronx.

Yes, my daughter and family lived and worked there for past 10 years in IT and recently relocated out of the hellhole to Texas