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Boeing tackles quality with a ‘war on defects’
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A Boeing 737 Max plane during final assembly at the company's factory in Renton.
PHOTO: GRANT HINDSLEY/NYTIMES
Niraj Chokshi
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RENTON, Washington – The 737 Max starts its journey through a Boeing factory near Seattle when its empty central tube is hoisted onto a structure high above the floor. There, about a dozen workers fan out to search for defects.
That inspection is part of a new quality-control regimen at Boeing after a nightmarish episode nearly two years ago, when a part on a Max blew away at 15,000 feet (4,570m), exposing passengers to roaring winds and potential catastrophe. No one was seriously injured, but the January 2024 episode prompted a reckoning.
