Originally Posted by
krismiler
Boeing need to bring production back in house instead of outsourcing to the cheapest bidder and they need to employ people who take pride in their work instead of those who don’t give a damn because their hourly rate is so low. Focus on making it better, rather than making it cheaper. Profits and bonuses for the executives may be lower but at least the company will still be around.
Walking the floor, while important, cannot possibly be enough. "Pride in their work" - yes - instilled and motivated from an early age. But now I've gone and raised the sorry state of the educational system in the U.S., the deadweight on quality teaching (and academic and career advising) by the monopolistic teacher unions.
I am not anti-union in this viewpoint. To the contrary, among my closest friends is a journeyman Ironworker - and if you don't already understand the strength of that labor organization, I don't know what to say. I'll try, though, with this anecdote. An applicant for Ironworkin' shows up at the yard where skills have to be demonstrated. "Show me how you weld", my friend would say. Within about 10 seconds, if it wasn't good enough, "Get out of here." There is no nonsense, none.
It's correct that I do elevate, or tend to elevate, the late Wm. "Wimpy" Winpisinger to up on a pedestal. But that's who Boeing, to restore to its bygone, sadly bygone days of engineering excellence and engineering preeminence, needs to be walking the floor. I'm sorry if this offends anybody, but not really. Because we all know or should know that even well-intentioned execs - and this probably excludes most of 'em since the merger - still aren't enough to motivate and set the example for the people "on the floor". The career tracks are just too different, too very different. Give me a Wimpy 2.0, and I'll voluntarily suspend my Law License, and go sign up to say "Boeing Builds Airplanes"...... and now, so do I.