Boeing Gaining Ground in ‘War Against Defects’ at 737 Jet Plant

As Boeing Co. wages a battle with quality lapses in its 737 factory outside Seattle, there are signs of progress, like the silence that engulfs the factory complex at 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday.

The clattering of tools halts for an hour as mechanics stop building narrowbody jets lined up nose-to-tail and break into small work groups to talk through their on-the-job impediments and irritants. The discussions often center on persistent headaches, like a hole repeatedly drilled in the wrong location by a key supplier, Boeing employees said.

With the second anniversary approaching of the Alaska Air Group Inc. midair near-calamity ...