To: All
Here is something to think about the next time you ride in a 767 or a 747. Boeing has very strict rules regarding dropped standards. Standards in this case are attachment devices such as nuts, bolts, rivets or any other device used to attach metal to metal or composite to metal. Each standard has a specific application and can not be replaced by another standard. Their rule is that if a standard is dropped on the floor it is discarded even if it is a $100.00 Titanium bolt. The standards are collected and eventually are taken to Boeings’ scrap yard where they are sold for $.10 a pound. This can be very expensive so each assembly station is limited to a fixed dollar loss each month. It was brought to the attention of production management that in some cases the allowable limit was exceeded by a factor of 10.
This could be very detrimental to the various managers’ positions so they did the following. They called in all employees that were on medical leave, that were in rehab for consuming alcohol or using drugs on company property and assembled them in a large room with several metal tables. The managers had gone to the scrap yard and retrieved many of the boxes that had officially been classified as scrap and dumped them on the metal tables.
The men with broken legs and arms along with the others in a confused state of mind were told to take each individual piece part and place it in the correct box with the other good standards. One bolt looked like another as did special and non special rivets as well as all the other parts that may or may not have ended up in the correct container and eventually finding their way onto an aircraft in production.
