Boeing Outsourced 737 Max Software to $9-an-Hour Engineers
Boeing’s 737 Max Software Outsourced to $9-an-Hour
Engineers
Peter Robison Bloomberg June 29, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- It remains the mystery at the heart of
Boeing Co.’s 737 Max crisis: how a company renowned for meticulous design made
seemingly basic software mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes. Longtime
Boeing engineers say the effort was complicated by a push to outsource work to
lower-paid contractors.
The Max software -- plagued by issues that could keep the
planes grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new
flaw -- was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced engineers and
pressing suppliers to cut costs.
Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its
subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour
to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in
aerospace -- notably India.
In offices across from Seattle’s Boeing Field, recent
college graduates employed by the Indian software developer HCL Technologies
Ltd. occupied several rows of desks, said Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software
engineer who worked in a flight-test group that supported the Max.
The coders from HCL were typically designing to
specifications set by Boeing. Still, “it was controversial because it was far
less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code,” Rabin said.
Frequently, he recalled, “it took many rounds going back and forth because the
code was not done correctly.”
Boeing’s cultivation of Indian companies appeared to pay
other dividends. In recent years, it has won several orders for Indian military
and commercial aircraft, such as a $22 billion one in January 2017 to supply
SpiceJet Ltd. That order included 100 737-Max 8 jets and represented Boeing’s
largest order ever from an Indian airline, a coup in a country dominated by
Airbus.
Based on resumes posted on social media, HCL engineers
helped develop and test the Max’s flight-display software, while employees from
another Indian company, Cyient Ltd., handled software for flight-test
equipment.
Costly Delay
In one post, an HCL employee summarized his duties with a
reference to the now-infamous model, which started flight tests in January
2016: “Provided quick workaround to resolve production issue which resulted in
not delaying flight test of 737-Max (delay in each flight test will cost very
big amount for Boeing).”
Boeing said the company did not rely on engineers from
HCL and Cyient for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which
has been linked to the Lion Air crash last October and the Ethiopian Airlines
disaster in March. The Chicago-based planemaker also said it didn’t rely on
either firm for another software issue disclosed after the crashes: a cockpit
warning light that wasn’t working for most buyers.
“Boeing has many decades of experience working with
supplier/partners around the world,” a company spokesman said. “Our primary
focus is on always ensuring that our products and services are safe, of the
highest quality and comply with all applicable regulations.”
In a statement, HCL said it “has a strong and
long-standing business relationship with The Boeing Company, and we take pride
in the work we do for all our customers. However, HCL does not comment on
specific work we do for our customers. HCL is not associated with any ongoing
issues with 737 Max.”
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