E101: My thoughts on former Boeing Quality Manager (John Barnett) interview prior to death

Lean Six Sigma Bursts

In episode 101, I share an interview clip from John Barnett, former Boeing Quality Manager, as he discusses the culture of quality that might explain the recent airline issues. He was found dead while he was giving a deposition about his former company, but I don't go into those details. I wanted to share my insights about a comment he made that inspection is non-value added, and how I think it has been misunderstood.

Inspection is non-value added, but that doesn't mean you stop inspecting. You need to remove the causes for the inspection before you can even consider removing or reducing inspection or test.

Links

• Ex-Boeing Quality Manager Warns of 737 Plane Being Back Air So Soon - TMZ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOffvIaWNm4
• John Barnett Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barnett_(whistleblower)
• Top 3 Things to Validate Before Removing Test and Inspection Steps: https://www.biz-pi.com/top-3-things-to-validate-before-removing-test-or-inspection-steps/https://www.biz-pi.com/top-3-things-to-validate-before-removing-test-or-inspection-steps/
• Lean Blog Audio from Mark Graban - The Problem (737 MAX and Beyond) at Boeing Isn’t “Idiots.” It’s Far More Complex Than That… But Fixable: https://www.leanblog.org/2024/01/the-problem-at-boeing-isnt-idiots-its-far-more-complex-than-that-but-fixable/
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