Boeing’s Safety Crisis Starts With Quality Management On The Factory Floor

From the 2018 Lion Air and 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crashes to the 2024 Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 door plug incident, Boeing has faced a succession of high-profile safety and quality challenges. While the causes differ, the recurrence of incidents raises broader questions about Boeing’s engineering, manufacturing and quality controls. Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing, Netflix’s documentary on the global aerospace manufacturer, brings these questions into sharper focus by shifting the spotlight from aircraft design to the factory floor.

Shocking details exposed from the documentary

The documentary draws on testimony from current and former Boeing employees, highlighting alleged weaknesses in manufacturing discipline, quality oversight and the escalation of safety concerns. It examines claims of non-conforming parts and unresolved employee concerns, alongside allegations from former quality manager John Barnett about the 787 Dreamliner production process.

While these remain allegations, they sit alongside documented regulatory findings. Following the Alaska Airlines incident, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified non-compliance in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control. In 2025, the FAA proposed a $3.1 million civil penalty after identifying hundreds of quality system violations at Boeing’s 737 production facility and Spirit AeroSystems’s fuselage plant. The findings included failures to follow Boeing’s own quality system and concerns around certification processes. Boeing paid the penalty in January 2026.

Quality management is the foundation of safety

In safety-critical industries, quality runs through the whole production process, linking engineering specifications, supplier controls, manufacturing processes, employee competence, documentation and corrective action. When these controls weaken, defects can become ‘quality escapes’ that move progressively closer to the customer – which, in aviation, means potentially into the aircraft itself. The door plug incident is a good example. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the panel had been removed for rework and reinstalled without its four retaining bolts, with no record of the removal – meaning no quality inspection of the closure took place. That is less a failure of one worker than of the system meant to ensure such work is documented, checked and closed out.

How does QMS come into play?

Quality management system (QMS) software can help organizations strengthen these controls by connecting non-conformance management, corrective actions, audits, supplier quality, document control and training in one system. Increasingly, integration with manufacturing systems and AI can also help identify recurring defects and emerging risks earlier. Used effectively, these systems can help manufacturers move beyond recording defects to investigating their causes and ensuring corrective actions are followed through on the factory floor. Ultimately, this proactive management can prevent repeat failures that compromise product quality and safety, while reducing the risk of costly recalls, production disruption and damage to brand reputation.

For further insight into how manufacturers are using QMS software to strengthen quality control, read Market Trends: Quality Management System (QMS) Software For Manufacturing or explore related reports on Vantage.