Posted on 10/28/2009 11:12:18 AM PDT by jazusamo
So Boeing is threatening to jilt us (again). To run out on our nine decades of marriage with someone smarter? Better? More reliable?
Nope. With someone cheaper.
Take away the heat, all the union-bashing or management second-guessing as Boeing now appears ready to move a major piece of its plane-building operations to South Carolina. At the core of this breakup drama is a cold statistic: 14.
As in $14. Per hour.
That's the average pay of the local line workers who are building the fuselage of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in a Charleston, S.C., plant.
Average pay of a Boeing Machinist around here? $28 an hour. Now, these pay averages aren't directly comparable, say people in the know. Many of Boeing's workers in South Carolina are younger or less experienced (the plant is only 4 years old). So the average pay there tilts lower.
Still, the average pay at Costco stores around Seattle is $17 an hour. According to PayScale, a Seattle company that tracks wages, the average for a hairstylist in Seattle is $18.24 an hour.
So Boeing right now is paying less to build airplanes in South Carolina than we pay for cutting hair or shelving 3-pound jars of olives.
How can we compete with that?
"It's like they have people who used to work at Kmart, trying to build an airplane."
That's Jack Day, a "shaper operator" at Boeing's sheet-metal plant in Auburn. Basically, he cuts parts in exacting detail so they fit into airplanes. Everything from flight decks to door frames.
He's been doing it for 37 years. His dad was a Boeing mechanic, and before that his grandmother was a factory clerk and a Rosie the Riveter.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Unions “organize” themselves out of another important job.
Wow, good for you, SAR.
I always admired you guys. Thank goodness I never needed your services, and I’ve been in some way-out places in the bush!
I always though Sequim would be a nice place to retire...and I agree, the peninsula is one of the greatest places in America to live, hike and recreate!
See ya’,
Ed
“They loved expensive “procedures”, “
Well, Boeing in general is just that, “Six Sigma Black Belts”, “ethics”, “centers of excellence”, “PMP”, etc. Boeing has more wasteful spending on garbage management techniques than they spend on solid engineering principles.
How long of wait for the ferry dose that include? Many years ago before tourist I lived in Port Townsend.
I’ve waited for as much as an hour, thats one reason that I often drive around.
Even with all of the hippies, I still like going to PT.... I’m nuts about anything to do with boats. ;>)
My Camry? Built in the USA. The parts content is probably as great as a GM car. I have a friend who worked at a supplier (tier 2) of brake materials. GM dictated that their big customer use friction material...from China, and passed it for quality even though half of it wouldn’t bond to the plates or would crumble. “Foreign” plants here in the US treat their suppliers with respect, and pay their bills on time. Not so much for GM Ford and Chrysler.
So, yes, it’s a statement. What “crap” comes specifically from overseas?
Sad.
I’ve always done my own maintenance on my vehicles, tune-ups, breaks, exhaust, etc.
Maybe that’s why I’ve had better luck.
Don’t misunderstand, they made OEM and original equipment parts.
That's a shame. When I left in '83 that hadn't hit. And there were plenty of old timers who taught me the ropes.
I still have my copy of the TDM - Tool Design Manual. There's an excellent section on design "checking" that would save gazillions of dollars if employed nationally. Most people go for the flashy "design review", which is basically show-and-tell. Or worse, they depend solely on their modeling software !
My first boss was a guy brought back out of retirement, with 45 years off tool design experience.
When I first got there, I was sent to an 8 week, 8 hour a day tool design course, taught by two "designers", meaning non-engineers. They taught me more than any PhD ever did !
Sounds like it's all gone down the toilet. When we built the 767 static test airplane, the wings failed at 115% of design load.
Maybe the 787 should dump the hoopla and go back to the old ways, as their wings crapped out at 85%, I hear ! Attention to detail and inspection of quality beats "Six Sigma" every time in small lot sizes.
Boeing is all about keeping each other’s friends employed. Safety issues, critical design issues, industry standards, etc. are not known by most managers. What they do know are the metrics by which they get bonuses, like how many tests they complete even if the tests do nothing, or how many change requests are completed even if they cannot quantify the work to be done because they are not qualified to even attempt to do the work, etc.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.