Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

They are Boeing's in ANA paint. My understanding was there were a number of empannage structures which were so non conforming that Boeing has not current plans to repair the airframes. I had heard numbers as high as 40 were in various states of post production modification.

It is a mess; as Boeing thought there was an advantage to shifting production to overseas contractors who enjoy "relaxed" oversight or who themselves obtain components with no oversight has turned into a nightmare of very expensive parts which do not conform with the design requirements.

To a lesser degree, South Carolina's cheap labor workforce, isn't. Boeing had stated their production rate would be 10 to 14 jets per month (in various statements). Actual rate of production ... 3.

I'm not sure how much Boeing thinks they are saving on labor, but the costs of nonconformity are over a billion now.