How Boeing Is Ramping Up 737 Production

Boeing is in the midst of rebuilding its 737 Max production program under CEO Kelly Ortberg, with a deliberate focus on quality and stability over raw speed. The company has raised its monthly production rate from 42 to 47 units, with targets of 52 and eventually 63 planes per month — but only when the production system proves stable enough to support those rates.

The road to this point has been turbulent. Beginning in late 2017 and early 2018, two 737 Max crashes killed 346 people, grounding the aircraft globally. Investigations revealed that faulty flight control software (MCAS) was responsible. Congressional hearings laid bare deep cultural and leadership failures at Boeing, ultimately resulting in the firing of CEO Dennis Muilenburg. His successor, Dave Calhoun, oversaw a recovery that steadily increased Max production from 2020 to 2023 — until a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max blew out mid-flight in early 2024, just weeks after delivery. This incident triggered another round of leadership accountability, with Calhoun stepping down and acknowledging that Boeing's habit of 'pushing work down the production line' — moving planes forward even with incomplete or non-conforming work — had sent the wrong message to employees about quality priorities.

Kelly Ortberg took over shortly after and has led a cultural reset centered on disciplined production practices. Workers at Boeing's Renton facility now operate in six-hour shifts with each employee performing only two to three focused tasks per shift, promoting repeatability and precision. The FAA is actively monitoring Boeing's quality metrics and has capped monthly production rates accordingly. A new final assembly line is being readied at Boeing's Everett, Washington plant to support the ramp to 52 units per month.

Boeing leadership and observers describe the mood as 'cautiously optimistic,' acknowledging past failures while expressing measured confidence in the new approach. The emphasis throughout is that rate increases will only happen when the production system demonstrates genuine stability — a direct reversal of the previous culture where schedule pressure overrode quality concerns.