Boeing's new CEO emphasizes safety culture transformation

Ms. Pope noted that while the Safety and Quality Plan incorporates feedback from Boeing customers, an independent assessment team, and regulators, most input came from employees. “We held safety and quality stand-downs. Every employee participated. We collected more than 30,000 items of feedback, which generated the genesis of the plan.”

The plan aims to increase investment in training and skill enhancement for employees, simplify business processes and procedures, reduce defects across the supply chain and factories, elevate safety and quality culture, and deploy SMS throughout the company.

Regarding predictable deliveries as a priority: “I spent a lot of time listening to our customers. Most have walked through our Safety and Quality Plan in detail. They’re very supportive; they recognize this isn’t minor change but transformational change.”

“We have slowed down our factories significantly to execute that change so we can get back to being predictable at our deliveries—predictable at scale,” she stated.

Ms. Pope emphasized that safety, quality, schedule adherence at cost are not competing priorities but must all be achieved simultaneously.

Addressing culture as her third priority: “Our employees are committed to our mission and passionate about the products we deliver. This is about creating what I call ‘Just culture,’ part of our safety management system.”

She highlighted leadership’s responsibility in ensuring employees have necessary tools and training while also stressing employee accountability in following processes and speaking up about potential issues.

Ms. Pope reported early signs of improvement: “We’re seeing significant improvement in the flow of our 737 factory with production rates meaningfully increasing month over month.” Similar actions are being implemented across other factories including those producing 787 models.