Boeing increases 737 production pace as quality, safety culture improves
By Dan Catchpole
SEATTLE (Reuters) -Boeing expects to stabilize 737 MAX production at 38 airplanes a month over the next couple of months, its Commercial Airplanes Vice President of Quality Doug Ackerman told reporters on Tuesday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration capped output at 38 airplanes a month after a mid-air panel blowout in a nearly new 737 in January 2024.
Prior to that, monthly production of its best-selling airplane had bounced between the teens and the thirties but Boeing struggled through a series of crises and controversies that have battered its finances, strained employee morale and shredded public trust.
After losing nearly $12 billion last year, the U.S. planemaker needs to increase 737 production to bring in more cash.
The company is on track to produce about 38 of the popular single-aisle airplanes this month, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment on the production rate for May.
Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg previously said that the company needs to prove it can maintain production at that level for several months before it asks the FAA to lift the cap.
Once production is running smoothly, the company would also resume work on adding a fourth production line, Ackerman said.
Boeing is making steady progress on all six production quality and safety metrics created by the company and regulators, according to its annual Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Report, which was released on Wednesday.
Safety concerns submitted by employees to the company's Speak Up reporting system rose by 220% from 2023 to 2024, according to the report.
Ongoing changes continue to make the program more effective, Chief Aerospace Safety Officer Don Ruhmann said during the media briefing on Tuesday.
For example, safety concerns are now evaluated by managers from other sections who are more likely to be impartial, rather than those who oversaw the work in question.
Boeing is also using machine learning to catch quality problems in its supply chain before they become widespread. While it is still "fine tuning" the approach, it is seeing statistical correlations between the data and the likelihood of supply chain issues, Ackerman said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Asian shares climb, dollar eases ahead of US-China talks
By Rocky Swift TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares jumped and the dollar pared recent gains on Monday as Asian markets reacted to better-than-expected U.S. jobs data ahead of talks in London aimed at mending a trade rift between the United States and China. Wall Street stocks had closed sharply higher on Friday after the jobs data eased concerns about damage to the world's biggest economy from President Donald Trump's unpredictable tariff regime. Safe-haven assets such as gold remained lower after steep selloffs. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5% in early trade on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 1.3%, touching the 24,000-point level for the first time since March 21. Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.9%. At the same time, a standoff in Los Angeles that led to Trump calling in the California National Guard to quell demonstrations over his immigration policies weighed on sentiment. The dollar slid 0.3% against the yen to 144.39, trimming its 0.9% jump on Friday. The European single currency was up 0.2% on the day at $1.1422. Top trade representatives from Washington and Beijing are due to meet for talks expected to focus on critical minerals, whose production is dominated by China. The discussions follow a rare call last week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "Trade policy will remain the big macro uncertainty," said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at "Signs of further momentum in talks could give the markets fresh boost to kick-off the week." U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will represent Washington in talks with China, Trump said in a social media post. China's foreign ministry said Vice Premier He Lifeng will be in Britain for the first meeting of the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism. U.S. employers added 139,000 jobs in May, data showed on Friday, fewer than the 147,000 jobs added in April, but exceeding the 130,000 gain forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. Attention now turns to inflation data on Wednesday that will feed into expectations for the timing of any rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Markets are facing "mixed fortunes" on Monday as they balance optimism over trade and the U.S. economy against the potential for social unrest in California, said Jeff Ng, Head of Asia Macro Strategy at SMBC. "The trade talks, if there's any progress, may help as well, but markets may not have priced in a lot of breakthrough for that," Ng said. "In the meantime, we are also quite cognizant that in the U.S. there are protests in L.A. and the National Guard is also being sent in, so we have to be on the watch for event risk as well." Spot gold fell 0.2% to $3,303.19 an ounce. U.S. crude was little changed at $64.56 a barrel after a two-day gain.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China's factory-gate deflation worst in 22 months as economic headwinds mount
BEIJING (Reuters) -China's producer deflation deepened to its worst level in almost two years in May while consumer prices extended declines, as the economy grappled with headwinds from trade tensions and a prolonged housing downturn. Uncertainties from a tariff war with the United States and weak consumption at home have rattled sentiment and fuelled expectations of more policy stimulus to combat deflationary pressures. The producer price index fell 3.3% in May from a year earlier, worse than a 2.7% decline in April and the deepest contraction in 22 months, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Monday. That compared with an estimated 3.2% fall in a Reuters poll. Cooling factory activity highlights the impact of U.S. tariffs on the world's largest manufacturing hub, dampening faster services growth as suspense lingers over the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks set to resume in London on Monday. In a phone call on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed trade tensions and critical minerals, leaving key issues for further negotiations. The consumer price index dipped 0.1% last month from a year earlier, after falling by the same amount in April and slightly better than a Reuters poll forecast of a 0.2% decline. CPI slid 0.2% on a monthly basis, compared with a 0.1% increase in April, and matched economists' predictions of a 0.2% decline. Retail sales growth slowed last month as spending continued to lag amid job insecurity and stagnant new home prices despite a recent raft of support measures. With households cautious about spending due to income pressures, some companies have resorted to price discounts to boost sales, prompting the authorities to urge an end to the auto industry's bruising price wars. The core inflation measure, excluding volatile food and fuel prices, registered a 0.6% year-on-year rise, slightly faster than a 0.5% increase in April
CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
China consumer prices slump again, deepening deflation worries as demand stays weak
China's consumer prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in May, as Beijing's stimulus measures appear insufficient to boost domestic consumption while trade tensions simmer. The consumer price index fell 0.1% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Monday, compared with the median estimate for a 0.2% decline among analysts polled by Reuters. The CPI slipped into negative territory in February, falling 0.7% from a year ago, and continued to post year-on-year declines of 0.1% in March and April. Separately, deflation in the country's factory-gate or producer prices deepened, falling 3.3% from a year earlier in May, a sharper decline than analysts' expectations for a 3.2% drop. The wholesale prices have remained in deflationary territory since October 2022, according to LSEG data. On May 7, Chinese top financial regulators unleashed a flurry of policy steps aimed at bolstering the country's tariff-hit economy. China's central bank cut the key interest rates by 10 basis points to historic-low levels and lowered the reserve requirement ratio, which determines the amount of cash banks must hold in reserves, by 50 basis points. U.S. President Donald Trump had ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods to prohibitive levels of 145%, prompting Beijing to retaliate with duties and other restrictive measures, such as export controls on its critical minerals. On May 12, the economy got a relief after U.S. and China struck a preliminary deal in Geneva, Switzerland that led both sides to drop a majority of tariffs. Washington lowered its levies on Chinese goods to 51.1% while Beijing dropped taxes on American imports to 32.6%, according to think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics, allowing some room for both sides to negotiate a broader deal.
