Advertising

The Seattle Times Company

NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource | Free Classifieds | seattletimes.com

The Seattle Times

Boeing / Aerospace


Our network sites seattletimes.com | Advanced

Originally published October 17, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified October 17, 2007 at 2:04 AM

E-mail article     Print view

Boeing employees: Some stunned, but others saw needed change

Boeing employees had mixed reactions Tuesday to the company's decision to replace Mike Bair as head of the 787 Dreamliner program. Some said they'd expected...

Special to The Seattle Times

Boeing employees had mixed reactions Tuesday to the company's decision to replace Mike Bair as head of the 787 Dreamliner program.

Some said they'd expected a leadership change after news that delivery of the new plane would be delayed six months. Others expressed surprise.

Many employees said they were more concerned about supply-chain problems affecting the program, and some hadn't even heard of Bair's ouster by late afternoon.

"It's so many levels above me," Maria Diaz, 23, a manufacturing engineer on the 787 program, said of the leadership change. "I think they had very unrealistic expectations" for delivery.

Diaz said engineers on the program have been working at least 10 hours a day, six days a week. Now, she said, "I'm happy because I don't have to work overtime" under the revised delivery schedule.

Informed of Bair's ouster, another Everett engineer on the 787 program said, "I'm surprised. I'm really shocked, and I guess I didn't expect for them to do something like that." He declined to be named for fear of losing his job.

Ray Davis, a quality technician on the 787 program, said the delay was "definitely a leadership problem. ... It's nothing the machinists and mechanics and engineers have done."

The leadership change, he said, means that "now we're straightening that out."

A part-time 787 engineer who declined to be named said there has been "a lot of rumor and speculation" about the delays.

"As soon as a program is six months later than schedule, it cries out for an explanation," he said.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

More Boeing news headlines...

E-mail article Print view      Share:    Digg     Newsvine

advertising

Boeing warns of 49 possible layoffs locally

Boeing breaks ground for historic SC plant

Boeing facility death was suicide

Court gives $1.1B tanker contract back to Boeing

Dubai Airshow: Boeing wins first orders for 737s

Advertising

Video

New Beginnings Christian Fellowship
Coming in this Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine: Pastor Braxton's mission is to preach a message that appeals to everyone.

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Raw Video | Real Salt Lake fans celebrate
Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Raw Video | MLS Cup Opening Ceremony
Real Salt Lake fans enter Qwest Field
LA Galaxy's David Beckham
Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman
MLS trophy arrives in Seattle

Marketplace

 
Most read
Most commented
Most e-mailed
 
 
Advertising