Boeing can’t afford another mistake: CEO

NEW YORK – Boeing’s new CEO told employees Wednesday that the company has serious culture problems and cannot afford another mistake, according to a report.

In the hour-long meeting, Kelly Ortberg, who joined Boeing as CEO in August, encouraged employees to take responsibility when they see problems, the Wall Street Journal reported after viewing a recording of the meeting.

“Boeing has had a lot of ups and downs,” Ortberg said. “We’re on the low side here, guys.”

“Don’t sit at the water cooler and complain about people,” he said. “Let’s focus on the task at hand.”

Ortberg also recounted a conversation he had with President-elect Donald Trump in which they discussed potential tariffs.

Ortberg told employees that a trade war with China would be a heavy burden for Boeing, the newspaper reported.

The meeting came about two and a half weeks after Boeing workers in the Seattle area ratified a new contract, ending a more than seven-week strike that closed two assembly plants and idled about 33,000 workers.

The strike adds to Boeing’s already precarious position following a January incident in which a fuselage panel exploded on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX.

Ortberg has previously called for a “fundamental culture change” at Boeing, emphasizing that it will take time to turn around a company that has also struggled with space failures and money-losing defense contracts.

On October 12, Boeing announced plans to cut its global workforce by 10 percent in the coming months.

Boeing said earlier this week it would cut nearly 2,200 jobs in the US state of Washington, where many of its oldest factories are located.