Boeing CEO Jim McNerney recently told the press and Boeing employees that Boeing could go the way of Detroit automakers by not being allowed to outsource and having to provide job guarantees. We all know that the aircraft business is cyclical, and when sales are down, layoffs occur. This is accepted norm for all Boeing employees. But to create layoffs by outsourcing these high quality parts to companies that just can’t meet Boeing’s strict design and manufacturing processes is one of the reasons Detroit is in a spiral and Boeing is behind schedule like it never has been before.

Parts for Boeing’s 787 are being designed and built by an outside workforce that doesn’t hold a candle to Boeing employees. The result of outsourcing and a “bottom line” mentality is expensive rework at Boeing by the same Boeing employees who should have built the parts in the first place. With all due respect to Mr. McNerney, who is an extremely smart, well educated and dedicated family man who truly cares about the world we live in, Boeing doesn’t make light bulbs, scotch tape, Downey fabric softner or Post-it notes; products which Mr. McNerney had a successful hand in.

These are the largest and most renowned and complex aircraft in the world, safely carrying passengers and cargo all over the world with redundant systems, complex controls and pressurized flight. They simply cannot be built elsewhere, like Post-it notes and lightbulbs. Just ask Detroit, or even your dedicated workforce.

Don Everest

Snohomish