Boeing abandons its failed fuselage robots on the 777X, handing the job back to machinists

Well, Boeing is on quite a roll these days and not in a good way. In the latest from our aviation keystone cops from Renton (or Chicago)

Despite 6 years of telling everybody it was "teething pains" they have finally pulled the plug on the Fuselage Automated Upright Build or FAUB (at least they gave the process a funny acronym) which involved a large number of mechanics to redo or finish the work the robots were supposed to automate.

This in and of itself would not be a huge deal but given Boeing's problems of late IT again point to a broken culture of safety and the desire to put profits over safety etc and the need to flush the ENTIRE Executive suite and the board IMHO


www.seattletimes.com...

a reply to: FredT

I live in Wichita home of Boeing and can tell you it takes a inside connection to get a job there. With that said they have an arrogant attitude of we work for aircraft and you don't. Where I worked for 35 years in manufacturing some of the employees went to aircraft and immediately was told to slow down , we don't work that hard here, and if you make us look bad we will make sure you get all the shiet jobs. This a culture that Boeing has allowed to exists and grow to the detriment of quality.
INHO.

Don't nobody say nothing bad about Renton Boeing....we got to dig the laser mounted mockup there back when.....love all 9 Boeing plants there.....visit them all working facilities....those guys still doing the wing fab by humans.....suppose

A robotic couldn't hang.....yeah, we have that to fall back on......

I interviewed for an automation position at Boeing, and after the tour and talking with several employees and managers I realized that they suffer from the same thing that many other companies in the industrial realm do.

They hire electricians as automation technicians and think that all automation consists of is a combination of having a little knowledge of electrical and mechanical experience and how to read schematics.

The thing is they just hire people who have a hookup on the inside and barely know what they are doing. They barely know how to read schematics, have no critical thinking skills and barely want to do the bare minimum.

Most employers don't realize that automation is more than knowing how to use a multimeter. You need a solid background in not just electromechanical principles, but also in networking and programming.

I've seen "automation technicians" who couldn't even connect to an Allen Bradley controller. Cal relays, transformers, contactors PLCs. Same people who have never seen a Mitsubishi, Yaskawa, don't know the difference between a HIM and HMI.

I've seen these guys taking resistance readings on energized equipment.

These same guys don't know the difference between network topographies and don't understand the concept of balance. They speed up one part of the system and get mad when the process gets messed up down the line when it gets jammed or backed up.

Many of the reasons why automated systems fail is because employers don't hire people with the necessary skills needed to actually do the job properly.

Which is why I can say this is why Boeing is scrapping this process. The process control engineers didn't do their job. The automation techs didn't do their job, and the process failed before it even entered the implementation stage.

Teaching Robots to rivet?Meh humans always have a better touch on how to drive a good rivet..

a reply to: PhilbertDezineck

Or is that the union?