https://mil.news.sina.com.cn/jssd/2019-07-01/doc-ihytcerm0491281.shtml
波音解雇上百资深工程师 将工作转交9美元时薪印度人
波音解雇上百资深工程师 将工作转交9美元时薪印度人
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波音737MAX全线停飞，这事件让全世界震惊，美国人也不断在问，为何强大的波音公司突然走到这个地步，新飞机不断坠毁，要知道波音在最近半个世纪，几乎是安全可靠精品的代名词。
最近美国媒体披露，737MAX核心问题来源于公司新的制度：不顾一切消减成本，尽量提高利润率，为此大量解雇波音原有资深软件工程师，转而将大量工作转交给更低报价的外部公司，工资低到9美元一小时，这个价格的软件工程师，在市场上价值几乎等于0，但是很奇怪的是，却扛起了波音最畅销机型737MAX的顶梁柱。
进一步的报道表明，波音公司外包软件的主要对象是印度公司比如HCL技术有限公司和Cyient有限公司，前者负责帮助开发和测试Max的飞行显示软件，后者负责处理飞行测试设备的软件。
但是，波音公司否定了导致飞机坠毁的元凶：MCAS机动增强系统外包，他们解释，这一部分是波音公司自己完成，波音这一申明并未给公众带来更大的信心，效果恰恰相反。
大家都知道，现代先进民用飞机优先保证安全性，所以对于飞控系统的要求非常严格，传统是一百万飞行小时有1到2次失效，不允许存在任何严重漏洞和逻辑错误，但是波音737MAX却严重违反了这一原则，只要一个攻角传感器失灵，飞机就会陷入死亡俯冲，而且每隔5秒重复一次。
对于737MAX飞机的单点失效问题，波音工程师很清楚，而且美国联邦航空管理局FAA驻波音代表也清楚此事，但是为了让波音公司尽快出货，这种可能耽误交付的严重问题，立即被波音管理层掩盖了。
印度人在信息产业名气很大，经常作为美国公司的低价替代品，HCL公司参与波音737MAX项目，由于过度缺乏航空经验，开发的软件故障太多，从而导致了大量的拖期，这一切的发生让公众对波音公司非常愤怒：航空这种高科技你们都随便放水，领导究竟怎么想的？
真相是：这是波音公司公关的一部分，由于波音公司特意培育印度公司，从而获得了印度人的大单：为了获得2005年印度航空公司110亿美元的订单，波音公司承诺向印度公司投资17亿美元，最终印度HCL和Cyient这种毫无航空开发背景的公司入围。
荒唐的结果：美国洛马公司为印度LCA战机设计飞控软件，印度HCL公司为波音开发软件
2017年1月的波音公司获得了印度人220亿美元的空前大单，该订单包括100架737-Max 8喷气机，代表波音公司在印度取得史无前例的突破，打破了空客的垄断地位。
这也代表一个美国公司的新做法：大量工作外包，包括软件，美国软件外包率为30%，欧洲仅有10%，波音公司在737，787和747上大量外包工作，理由是：利用外部优质资源，传统需要80美元一小时的工作岗位，采用印度人后，仅仅9到10美元就可以搞定，而且可以利用地球时差不间断工作，但是不管737，还是787，都遭遇了巨大的技术和沟通问题，在787项目上导致了严重的技术问题延期，延期时间高达3年，代价就是几十亿美元的经济损失。
外包是一个双刃剑，用得好，则盆满钵满，用的不好，则可能导致灾难性的后果！（作者署名：大水）
Boeing fired hundreds of senior engineers to transfer work to $9 hourly Indians
Boeing fired hundreds of senior engineers to transfer work to $9 hourly Indians
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The Boeing 737MAX was grounded all the time. This incident shocked the whole world. Americans are constantly asking why the powerful Boeing company suddenly came to this point and the new plane crashed. It is necessary to know that Boeing has been almost safe and reliable in the last half century. Synonymous with.
Recently, the US media revealed that the core problem of 737MAX comes from the company's new system: regardless of cost reduction and maximizing profit margins, a large number of Boeing's original senior software engineers were dismissed, and a large amount of work was transferred to an external company with lower quotations. The wages are as low as $9 an hour. The software engineer at this price is almost equal to zero in the market, but strangely, it has set off the pillars of Boeing's best-selling model, the 737MAX.
Boeing's extremely high profit margins benefit from a large amount of low-cost outsourcing Boeing's high profit margins, thanks to a large number of low-cost outsourcing jobs.
Further reports indicate that Boeing's outsourced software targets Indian companies such as HCL Technologies Inc. and Cyient Ltd., the former responsible for helping to develop and test Max's flight display software, which handles software for flight test equipment.
However, Boeing denied the culprit that led to the crash of the aircraft: MCAS mobile augmentation system outsourcing, they explained that this part was completed by Boeing itself, Boeing's statement did not bring greater confidence to the public, the opposite is true.
As we all know, modern advanced civil aircraft is preferred to ensure safety, so the requirements for flight control systems are very strict. The traditional one-to-two flight hours have one or two failures. No serious loopholes or logic errors are allowed, but Boeing 737MAX However, this principle is seriously violated. As long as an angle of attack sensor fails, the aircraft will fall into a death dive and repeat every 5 seconds.
Boeing suffered a big loss on the low-end 737 model: the reputation was seriously damaged. Boeing suffered a big loss on the low-end 737 model: the reputation was seriously damaged.
Boeing engineers are clear about the single-point failure of the 737MAX aircraft, and the FAA-based Boeing representative of the US Federal Aviation Administration is aware of the matter, but in order for Boeing to ship as soon as possible, this serious problem that may delay delivery is immediately Boeing. The management has covered up.
Indians are well-known in the information industry, and often as a low-cost substitute for American companies. HCL participates in the Boeing 737MAX project. Due to excessive lack of aviation experience, too many software failures are developed, resulting in a lot of delays. It happened that the public was very angry with Boeing: You are free to put water on the high-tech of aviation. What do the leaders think?
The truth is: This is part of Boeing's public relations, because Boeing has specifically cultivated Indian companies, which has earned a big list of Indians: Boeing is committed to investing 1.7 billion in Indian companies in order to obtain a $11 billion order from Indian Airlines in 2005. The US dollar, eventually India HCL and Cyient, a company without aviation development background, was shortlisted.
Ridiculous results: US Loma Company designs flight control software for Indian LCA fighters, and India HCL develops software for Boeing
In January 2017, Boeing received an unprecedented $22 billion in Indians, including 100 737-Max 8 jets, which represented Boeing's unprecedented breakthrough in India and broke Airbus's monopoly.
This also represents a new approach for US companies: a large amount of work outsourcing, including software, 30% for US software outsourcing, and only 10% for Europe. Boeing is heavily outsourced on 737, 787 and 747 on the grounds: using external quality Resources, the traditional needs 80 dollars an hour of work, after the Indians, only 9 to 10 dollars can be fixed, and can use the global time difference to work, but regardless of 737, or 787, have encountered huge technology and communication The problem, which led to serious technical problems in the 787 project, was extended for up to three years at a cost of billions of dollars in economic losses.
Outsourcing is a double-edged sword. If it is used well, it will be full of pots, and if it is not used well, it may lead to catastrophic consequences! (Author's signature: Dashui)
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-29/boeing-outsourced-its-737-max-software-9-hour-engineers-0
Rear View Mirror: Sideways Earnings = Sideways Price. Windshield View?
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Bitcoin caught everyone by surprise last weekend, quickly rocketing through the $10,000 barrier level.
Boeing Outsourced Its 737 MAX Software To $9-Per-Hour Engineers
by Tyler Durden
Sat, 06/29/2019 - 10:35
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The software at the heart of the Boeing 737 MAX crisis was developed at a time when the company was laying off experienced engineers and replacing them with temporary workers making as little as $9 per hour, according to Bloomberg.
In an effort to cut costs, Boeing was relying on subcontractors making paltry wages to develop and test its software. Often times, these subcontractors would be from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace, like India.
Boeing had recent college graduates working for Indian software developer HCL Technologies Ltd. in a building across from Seattle's Boeing Field, in flight test groups supporting the MAX. The coders from HCL designed to specifications set by Boeing but, according to Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software engineer, “it was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code.”
Rabin said: “...it took many rounds going back and forth because the code was not done correctly.”
In addition to cutting costs, the hiring of Indian companies may have landed Boeing orders for the Indian military and commercial aircraft, like a $22 billion order received in January 2017. That order included 100 737 MAX 8 jets and was Boeing’s largest order ever from an Indian airline. India traditionally orders from Airbus.
HCL engineers helped develop and test the 737 MAX's flight display software while employees from another Indian company, Cyient Ltd, handled the software for flight test equipment. In 2011, Boeing named Cyient, then known as Infotech, to a list of its “suppliers of the year”.
One HCL employee posted online: “Provided quick workaround to resolve production issue which resulted in not delaying flight test of 737-Max (delay in each flight test will cost very big amount for Boeing).”
But Boeing says the company didn’t rely on engineers from HCL for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which was linked to both last October's crash and March's crash. The company also says it didn’t rely on Indian companies for the cockpit warning light issue that was disclosed after the crashes.
A Boeing spokesperson said: “Boeing has many decades of experience working with supplier/partners around the world. Our primary focus is on always ensuring that our products and services are safe, of the highest quality and comply with all applicable regulations.”
HCL, on the other hand, said: "HCL has a strong and long-standing business relationship with The Boeing Company, and we take pride in the work we do for all our customers. However, HCL does not comment on specific work we do for our customers. HCL is not associated with any ongoing issues with 737 Max.”
Recent simulator tests run by the FAA indicate that software issues on the 737 MAX run deeper than first thought. Engineers who worked on the plane, which Boeing started developing eight years ago, complained of pressure from managers to limit changes that might introduce extra time or cost.
Rick Ludtke, a former Boeing flight controls engineer laid off in 2017, said: “Boeing was doing all kinds of things, everything you can imagine, to reduce cost, including moving work from Puget Sound, because we’d become very expensive here. All that’s very understandable if you think of it from a business perspective. Slowly over time it appears that’s eroded the ability for Puget Sound designers to design.”
Rabin even recalled an incident where senior software engineers were told they weren't needed because Boeing's productions were mature. Rabin said: “I was shocked that in a room full of a couple hundred mostly senior engineers we were being told that we weren’t needed.”
Any given jetliner is made up of millions of parts and millions of lines of code. Boeing has often turned over large portions of the work to suppliers and subcontractors that follow its blueprints. But beginning in 2004 with the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing sought to increase profits by providing high-level specs and then asking suppliers to design more parts themselves.
Boeing also promised to invest $1.7 billion in Indian companies as a result of an $11 billion order in 2005 from Air India. This investment helped HCL and other software developers.
For the 787, HCL offered a price to Boeing that they couldn't refuse, either: free. HCL "took no up-front payments on the 787 and only started collecting payments based on sales years later".
Rockwell Collins won the MAX contract for cockpit displays and relied in part on HCL engineers and contract engineers from Cyient to test flight test equipment.
Charles LoveJoy, a former flight-test instrumentation design engineer at the company, said: “We did have our challenges with the India team. They met the requirements, per se, but you could do it better.”
https://www.rt.com/news/463031-boeing-software-outsourced-costs/
Anything to cut costs? Boeing accused of outsourcing 737 MAX software at $9 an hour
Published time: 30 Jun, 2019 01:58 Edited time: 30 Jun, 2019 11:44
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Boeing 737 Max cockpit © Reuters / Matt Mills McKnight
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Boeing has been partially outsourcing software development to low-paid subcontractors to save costs, Bloomberg has learned, suggesting that inadequate quality control practices may have contributed to fatal 737 MAX crashes.
Newly graduated programmers employed by third-party software developers – including Indian HCL Technologies Ltd and Cyient Ltd – were making as little as $9 an hour, roughly four times less than their own experienced engineers who Boeing was actively laying off. The company reportedly outsourced flight-display software and programs for flight-test equipment. While the final code allegedly complied with their strict specifications, the efficiency of such work was below expectations, as subcontractors were pressured to avoid any major changes that could cause delay.
Also on rt.com Boeing 787 Dreamliner caught in deepening probe into 737 MAX disaster
“It was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code,” Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software engineer who worked in a flight-test group that supported the MAX, told Bloomberg.
It took many rounds going back and forth because the code was not done correctly.
The American aerospace giant is in hot water following two fatal 737 MAX crashes which claimed a total of 346 lives. Both the Lion Air crash in Indonesia and the Ethiopian Airlines disasters were linked to the improper work of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was designed to prevent the plane from stalling, but instead sent the aircraft into nosedives.Also on rt.com Trapped in simulation: Can computer models replace real testing of passenger aircraft?
While both Boeing and HTC stressed that subcontractors were not involved in developing either the notorious MCAS nor the critical cockpit warning system, Bloomberg claims that third-party engineers did participate in some of the 737 MAX's software development. At least one HTC employer apparently claimed in their resume that they had come up with a “quick workaround” that helped “resolve [a] production issue” that could have caused delays and cost Boeing a lot of money.
“Boeing was doing all kinds of things, everything you can imagine, to reduce cost, including moving work from Puget Sound [outside of Seattle, Washington] because we’d become very expensive here,” a former Boeing flight controls engineer, Rick Ludtke, told the publication.
In addition to saving costs and production time, the involvement of Indian companies in particular “appeared to pay other dividends” for the American corporation, which was able to secure multi-billion-dollar contracts with the Indian military and commercial airlines, according to the report.
Also on rt.com FAA discovers new ‘potential risk’ in troubled Boeing 737 MAX
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https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/...x-software-outsourced-to-lower-paid-engineers
Boeing's 737 Max Software Outsourced To Lower-Paid Engineers (bloomberg.com) 332
Posted by BeauHD on Friday June 28, 2019 @11:30PM from the you-get-what-you-pay-for dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: It remains the mystery at the heart of Boeing's 737 Max crisis: how a company renowned for meticulous design made seemingly basic software mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes. Longtime Boeing engineers say the effort was complicated by a push to outsource work to lower-paid contractors. The Max software -- plagued by issues that could keep the planes grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new flaw -- was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced engineers and pressing suppliers to cut costs. Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace -- notably India.
