Boeing named retired Navy admiral Kirkland Donald as special advisor to the company’s President and CEO Dave Calhoun on Tuesday as the aircraft manufacturer brings in outside experts to conduct quality reviews.
Donald and a team of outside experts will review Boeing’s aircraft quality management system, including quality programs and practices in the company’s manufacturing facilities and its handling of commercial supplier quality.
Recommendations will be given to Calhoun and the Boeing board of directors’ Aerospace Safety Committee, according to the release.
The appointment comes less than a week after the Federal Aviation Administration said it would increase oversight of Boeing’s production and manufacturing operations and quality assurance compliance a week after a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737-9 Max aircraft blew out mid-flight. The FAA is also considering bringing in a third-party for quality oversight of the company’s operations.
Boeing’s decision to bring in Donald is its latest attempt to put out the PR firestorm set off by the Alaska Airlines incident. The company is also opening up its factories for review from 737 airline operators, and is sending its own team to inspect 737 supplier Spirit AeroSystems’ manufacturing operations, the company stated in a Jan. 15 update.
“Our team is now inspecting Spirit’s installation of the mid-exit door plug and approving them before the fuselage section can be shipped to Boeing. We are also inspecting more than 50 other points in Spirit’s build process and assessing their build plans against engineering specifications,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal said in the update.
The Alaska Airlines incident has only heightened scrutiny around Boeing, which, alongside Spirit AeroSystems, has battled numerous quality issues in the past year. Boeing promoted company veteran Stephanie Pope to COO on Jan. 1 to restore and oversee Boeing’s supply chain, manufacturing, quality and engineering efforts following the turbulent year.
Prior to his new role at Boeing, Donald was a nuclear trained submarine officer for 37 years and also served as director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program for eight years.
"I've asked [Donald] to provide an independent and comprehensive assessment with actionable recommendations for strengthening our oversight of quality in our own factories and throughout our extended commercial airplane production system,” Calhoun said in a statement. “He and his team will have any and all support he needs from me and from across The Boeing Company."
