Boeing\u00a0has named Robert \u201cKelly\u201d Ortberg to replace CEO Dave Calhoun, picking a longtime aerospace veteran from outside the company as the manufacturer struggles to\u00a0regain its footing\u00a0from its safety and manufacturing crises. He will start Aug. 8.<\/p>\n
Ortberg, 64, previously led major aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins, which later became Collins Aerospace, leading major acquisitions, including one early in his tenure. The business is now part of industry behemoth\u00a0RTX. He retired in 2021, though he was most recently on RTX\u2019s board and resigned on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The appointment of the more-than-three-decade aerospace veteran shows Boeing is seeking a steady hand that knows the industry \u2014 but also a company outsider. Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a July 29 note that at Collins, Ortberg was a \u201ctough negotiator dealing with a diverse set of customers and suppliers and managing the complexity of its diverse customer base,\u201d including Boeing.<\/p>\n
Ortberg, who has a mechanical engineering degree, will face a host of challenges to turn Boeing around: persistent losses,\u00a0additional regulator scrutiny,\u00a0supply chain strains, a\u00a0crisis of confidence\u00a0from airline customers whose planes are delayed, and tense labor talks that now include the threat of a strike.<\/p>\n
Boeing\u00a0said in March\u00a0that Calhoun would step down by year\u2019s end, part of a broader company shake-up that also included the departure of its then-chairman and the replacement of its head of commercial aircraft unit. The changes came after a door plug blew out of a nearly new 737 Max 9,\u00a0heightening federal scrutiny\u00a0of Boeing just as it was trying to move on from two fatal crashes of its bestselling plane.<\/p>\n
Boeing announced Ortberg\u2019s appointment\u00a0alongside a wider-than-expected quarterly loss\u00a0and a 15% drop in sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cKelly is an experienced leader who is deeply respected in the aerospace industry, with a well-earned reputation for building strong teams and running complex engineering and manufacturing companies,\u201d Boeing chairman Steven Mollenkopf said in note to employees on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ortberg will also join Boeing\u2019s board.<\/p>\n
Boeing has in recent months tried to move past its production and safety crises, including the continued fallout from two deadly crashes of its Max planes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month it\u00a0pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge\u00a0that said it misled regulators about the Max planes before they were certified. The agreement requires an independent corporate monitor at the company for three years.<\/p>\n
As CEO, Ortberg will have to ensure quality of Boeing\u2019s products that depend on a strained and massive\u00a0supply chain. The company, which employs some 170,000 people, has to train thousands of new employees who replaced more experienced staff who\u00a0left in the pandemic, a challenge Boeing\u2019s suppliers are also facing.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0midair door plug blowout\u00a0put Boeing\u2019s leaders back in crisis mode, though there weren\u2019t any serious injuries among passengers or crew. Bolts to hold the door panel in place weren\u2019t installed at Boeing\u2019s Renton, Washington, factory, according to early accident reports.<\/p>\n
That accident was the\u00a0most serious\u00a0of a host of\u00a0manufacturing flaws\u00a0that also included misdrilled holes and incorrect spacing on fuselages, problems that have slowed deliveries, depriving the company of cash and customers of new planes.<\/p>\n
Boeing\u00a0reached a deal earlier this month\u00a0to buy\u00a0Spirit AeroSystems, its fuselage supplier it previously owned. Many of the recent problems originated there and Boeing\u2019s leaders have said the acquisition Boeing\u2019s leaders have said will help them get a better handle on quality after years of outsourcing, a practice that outgoing CEO Calhoun said earlier this year likely went \u201ctoo far.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne person cannot turn around a company, but Kelly should be able to cast a wider net for talent than a Boeing insider could,\u201d Bank of America aerospace analyst Ron Epstein said in a note Wednesday. \u201cAlso, we note that Rockwell Collins fostered a strong culture, something that we think Boeing is in dire need of now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Boeing\u00a0has named Robert \u201cKelly\u201d Ortberg to replace CEO Dave Calhoun, picking a longtime aerospace veteran from outside the company as the manufacturer struggles to\u00a0regain its footing\u00a0from its safety and manufacturing crises. He will start Aug. 8. Ortberg, 64, previously led major aerospace supplier Rockwell Collins, which later became Collins Aerospace, leading major acquisitions, including one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}