Boeing's Dark Age of Manufacturing

A Dark Age Doesn't Descend All at Once

Photo by Galina Nelyubova on Unsplash

THE AIM for this newsletter is to share with you my analysis of a recent article in The Atlantic by Jerry Useem that tells the story of the decline of America’s manufacturing might and the consequences paid by Boeing after twenty-five years of deliberate decisions by five successive CEOs to extract the company from their original constancy of purpose as a builder to merely an assembler of what others have made. It is a cautionary tale that Dr. Deming predicted would happen to organizations that did not transform away from the prevailing style of management.

It’s a banger of an article you should read and share with your colleagues and managers as a conversation-starter for how to avoid a similar fate by learning new theory from the past.

I’ve designed this analysis as a Miro-Board walkthrough for paid-tier subscribers to thank them for their generous support which enables me to create new content like this and my upcoming podcast series, The New Economics Companion. If you haven’t already, please consider upgrading your subscription to join my small but mighty cadre of Deming students and practitioners so we can continue to build bridges of influence by sharing our knowledge with others.