Blow to Boeing and US dominance

Recent news about structural and performance failures involving Boeing aircraft are a bad omen for U.S. industrial dominance worldwide.

During World War II, Boeing’s Flying Fortresses based in England were instrumental in bombing Nazi Germany into submission. And a Boeing bomber delivered the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hastening Japan’s surrender, which did not follow the dropping of conventional incendiary bombs on Tokyo and Yokohama. Warfare is inherently brutal, but better to dominate and win than to lose, and Boeing’s reliable bombers were instrumental in our victory in 1945.

But lately, trust in Boeing’s reliability has been questioned by quality issues, such as the loss of a door in flight. Such events destroy trust and end reliability. Often, global demand switches to other aircraft, which can blunt U.S. industrial dominance in the category. Bad for business.

Is American industry losing its edge earned from generations of top-quality leadership? Prioritizing profit over reliability can do that. So can sloppy quality control. Customers can switch to other brands made elsewhere.

For the sake of America’s industrial standing, pray that those events do not contaminate the global appeal of American-made goods.

— Ted Z. Manuel, Chicago