moment. Employees gravitate to a factory workstation where a colleague makes a presentation regarding an action he or she developed to increase efficiency. Blake Johnson, a 27-year employee and join crew team leader, stood beneath a horizontal stabilizer when he spoke to nearly two dozen co-workers and factory leaders and told them about a $1,162.60 savings he realized by recycling fasteners. He felt compelled to come up with a workplace enhancement, considering it a necessary part of his job. “We’ve always had the culture here that, basically, if there’s a problem, we’re the solution,” Johnson said. “Everyone takes ownership of the company as a whole. The way to keep the business healthy is continuous improvement.” Boeing Salt Lake looks for its next generation of employees from those who can develop the necessary skills to work at any of the three site locations. To provide a pipeline 14 | BOEING FRONTIERS of talent, Boeing partnered with government, academic institutions and other companies to create the Utah Pathways Aerospace Program. Statewide high school students pursue a curriculum geared to airplane manufacturing. Of the 40 students who graduated earlier this year, five recently were hired by Boeing. The Northport factory, the smallest of the three, is filled with humming machining equipment and multiple assembly lines. White foam panels, resembling small mattresses, hang on their sides from the ceiling to muffle the noise created by so many machines in use all at once. Since 2007, the site’s employees have fabricated and assembled flight-deck structures for every model of Boeing jetliner, collectively shipping out consoles, overhead panels and other parts for more than two dozen flight decks each month. In this high-energy atmosphere, engineers such as Forrest Newton Continued on Page 17
Frontiers October 2016 Issue
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