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Trashed – Boeing engineers’ claim that cheap Indian software is 737 MAX’s problem

Problems being faced by Boeing 737 MAX were blamed on software being outsourced to HCL & Cyient. Some engineers now say words taken out of context.

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New Delhi: Last week, a Bloomberg report quoted Boeing engineers claiming that the problems currently being faced by the 737 MAX aircraft after two fatal crashes were down to software being “outsourced to $9-an-hour engineers” at two Indian IT firms, HCL and Cyient. Both the firms have refuted the claims outright.

However, the veracity of the claims has been questioned, while some of the engineers quoted in the report also saying their words were taken out of context.

Indians up in arms

Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), tweeted: “…these claims are vicious and lack any veracity. Indian tech is the favourite whipping boy for any issue that goes wrong…”

But she was hardly the only one pointing out holes in the report. A former HCL vice-president pointed to one particular line, “HCL gave Boeing a remarkable price — free”, was unlikely in reality.

“This is sensationalised, nothing is for free,” the former HCL V-P said.

Facebook user Devesh Agarwal pointed out: “The Airbus A320 doors are made in Bangalore. Don’t see them falling off.”

On Reddit, a user named ‘Tyr64’ pointed out the news report is unable to prove the 737 MAX fatalities were due to Indian-made software.

“The fact is this article tries to wink wink, nudge nudge a connection between these devs [software developers] and MCAS [Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System — the faulty part of Boeing 737 Max linked to fatal crashes], a connection it cannot prove… And further, disparaging work simply because it’s outsourced, a practice literally every manufacturer and most airlines engage in, is at best ignorant,” the Reddit user wrote.


Also read: Boeing 737 Max has a new problem, European aviation safety regulators say


Hardware engineer commenting on software

The report had quoted Charles LoveJoy, a former flight test instrumentation design engineer, as saying: “We did have our challenges with the India team…They met the requirements, per se, but you could do it better.”

However, speaking to ThePrint, LoveJoy said the report didn’t reflect his views fairly. What’s more, LoveJoy also clarified that his experience involved hardware, not software.

“The back and forth wasn’t specific to India. It was all suppliers, not just Indian suppliers. Most [of the work] does not come through perfect… This is the case with most international and domestic suppliers. And it makes me angry that it sounded like that. The meaning was simply that the engineering had to go back and forth a lot of times for improvement,” LoveJoy said.

“The India team I worked with in SC [Boeing’s South Carolina facility] was great, because they actually were on the aircraft and we were able to directly show them the application of the design and speak to them of possible problems before the design cycle.”

Vance Hilderman, an avionics expert, was also featured in the report, saying the firm he co-founded was roped in to rectify mistakes of projects outsourced outside the USA. But he told ThePrint that it wasn’t that Indian work was worse than the work done in Eastern Europe, another destination for outsourcing.

“India received the majority of the work due to greater numbers of people and lower wages,” he said. “We do have much respect for Indian developers; nothing personal. Like China and Eastern Europe, Indian software development has advanced rapidly the past 20 years.”

Room to improve

LoveJoy and Hilderman both agreed that Indian hardware and software engineering skills in the aviation sector will improve with time and experience.

Hilderman, with 30 years of experience in avionics, said “sufficient training standards, apprenticeship, or mentoring to ensure younger members are sufficiently trained or that older members are monitored and audited” is required in a field as complex as avionics.


Also read: Boeing gets a big win, but at what cost?


 

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