RENTON, Wash. — Boeing announced Tuesday the company has restarted production of 737 Max jets at the Renton factory, with the Everett production line to restart later this week.
Production on the jets in the Pacific Northwest has been paused since September when unionized machinists went on strike after failing to reach an agreement with the company before their contract lapsed. The strike was resolved in early November, but the company was forced to take several steps, including complying with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight, before it was cleared to restart building jets.
“Our team has worked methodically to restart factory operations in the Pacific Northwest," a spokesperson said in a statement to KING 5. “We used our Safety Management System to create program-specific plans to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential risks at each stage of the restart. Over the last several weeks, we dedicated time toward training and certification, ensuring parts and tools are ready, and completing work on airplanes in inventory to prepare for the resumption of production at pre-work stoppage levels.”
A machinist from Renton who spoke on condition of anonymity said there were mixed feelings among the union the first couple weeks after returning to work, but now they are just focused on the work.
"We're all one union at the end of the day," the machinist said. "We all do the same thing. So we just crank out airplanes to the best of our ability and as quality as possible."
Aside from the strike, Boeing has been under increased scrutiny from federal regulators that lengthened the time it would take to jumpstart production following a door plug blowout aboard an active flight in January and a slew of whistleblower complaints over quality control and assurance and Boeing's factories - including reports that Boeing was using "noncompliant" parts on jets, and that employees who raised their concerns were retaliated against.
The FAA said in a statement that Administrator Mike Whitaker visited Boeing's Renton factory last week to ensure that the company was compliant in fixing its "systemic quality-control issues."
"Boeing has made progress executing its comprehensive safety action plan, and we will continue to closely monitor the results as they ramp up production following the strike," an FAA spokesperson said.