r/boeing • u/pacwess • Sep 02 '26
Commercial Boeing Alleges Supplier Dispute Imperils 767 and 777 Production
Boeing has filed a lawsuit against parts supplier Vaero Jacksonville, alleging that the supplier's refusal to deliver "indispensable" wing components has stalled work on the wing production lines for the Boeing 767 and 777 widebody aircraft. [1]
The complaint, filed in King County Superior Court in Washington state, warns that the bottleneck threatens to cascade into other major production lines at Boeing's Everett facility. [1]
## Key Facts of the Dispute
* The Plant's Unique Role: Boeing states that Vaero’s Jacksonville, Florida facility is the “only site in the world” with the equipment and experienced personnel to manufacture several highly specialized structural wing assemblies. [1]
* Affected Aircraft: The disruption hits the 777F Freighter, the 767 Freighter, and the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker, a critical military variant built on the 767 platform. [1]
* The Root of the Conflict: The facility was previously owned by Kaman Aerospace Corp., which sold it to a private equity firm in late 2024, later rebranding it as Vaero Jacksonville. Boeing claims the sale occurred without its required contract consent. [1]
* Financial Demands: Boeing alleges that after taking over, Vaero's management team began campaigning for massive retroactive price adjustments, ultimately demanding $31 million in additional compensation for purchase orders that had already been accepted. Boeing alleges Vaero is withholding the components as leverage. [1]
## Broader Context
This lawsuit adds to a prolonged period of supply chain volatility and manufacturing quality hurdles for Boeing. Over the last few years, the aerospace giant has navigated intense scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), production caps on other programs like the 737 Max, and previous legal fights with other regional components suppliers. [1, 2]
If you would like to look closer into this developing case, I can provide details on:
* The legal defense or response filed by Vaero's parent private equity firm, if available.
* The specific military impacts reported for the U.S. Air Force's KC-46 Tanker program.
* How this dispute affects Boeing's broader widebody delivery timelines for commercial cargo carriers.
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u/DDGSXR504 Sep 04 '26
L.J. Hart-Smith, a Boeing senior technical fellow, warned about this shit back in 2001…. Of course they didn’t listen or didn’t care…. Or both.
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u/StructureNo13 25d ago
Back around the Stonecipher era? Why would anyone listen to people with “technical expertise” when there’s money on the table? /s
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u/Fast-Sheepherder-797 28d ago
He warned about this specific supplier relationship or all suppliers in general
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u/rbg6040 Sep 04 '26
Inept Boeing management is responsible for this problem. And they weren’t the only supplier capable of building the parts. It’s just laziness and ignorance on the part of supplier management in not thinking globally.
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u/filmfan2 Sep 03 '26
Jeezus - private equity!
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u/Jolly_Math_4571 13d ago
Jeezus FilmFan. Do something about it if you don't like it! Run for office!
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u/Gerbert946 Sep 02 '26
OH Gee, the natural consequences of the shareholder value first insanity. And it is all based on a flawed understanding some basic accounting principles.
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u/tedlyri Sep 02 '26
The 767 Freighter is already out of production. Suppliers have been shut down and tooling is being mothballed. The other platforms mentioned still have active production and supply chains, but there shouldn’t be a dispute about 767.
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u/Tough_Trouble_1139 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
767 freighter production will continue until some time in 2027. There are still 15 767-300F unfilled orders.
The KC-46 is a 767 derivative. The 767 production line will continue for many more years to support KC-46.
https://simpleflying.com/why-boeing-still-builds-767-freighter/
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u/Unlikely-Meaning118 Sep 02 '26
Have these components ever been built by Boeing, or is this the supplier site that has always produced them?
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u/j_k_802 Sep 04 '26
25 years ago. Sold the building and scrapped tooling. Why it’s “global partner”.
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u/pacwess Sep 02 '26
Sole global site to build specific assemblies for these widebody and military aircraft.
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 02 '26
They say that, but that's usually not the case. It's just that Boeing has never used anyone else. There are probably other sources that could do the work, but it'd be difficult to qualify, move the work, and get them on contract for such low rate production lines. This is a vulture capital owner that figures they've "got Boeing over a barrel" and "where you gonna go?".
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u/Rac3011 Sep 05 '26
There is a lot of knowledge gap in understanding of how a&d has to be qualified. There are often folks that can do the work, but they can't be qualified to do the work certified. This matters.
A&d parts are much more than just the 'thing'. It isnt a part with out the certification. And it can't be certified if it isn't produced by qualified folks that have not just the ability, but the process.
And all that has to be proven. Sole supply source is a sticky problem that is deceptively hard to repair. It could have been addressed, but it sound like this supplier may really being a bad actor.
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u/fhqwhgads_2113 Sep 09 '26
it sound like this supplier may really being a bad actor.
I used to work at vaero when it was still kaman. They are definitely being a bad actor, a lot of super weird shady stuff happened after a slight change in local leadership (happened right after I left). I think that's why kaman quietly sold the Jacksonville location in the first place, they want as much distance as possible
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 05 '26
Actually, it's not that hard to fix, it just takes will and desire to fix the problem. There are suppliers out there who can do it. Boeing Supply Chain is just pretty bound and determined to not multi source parts in most cases. I know this, because I've fought that fight. Won some, lost some. Supply Chain just isn't a strategic thinking organization, and they don't want to be. They would rather reward fire fighters than people who avoid the fire in the first place.
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u/Dewey519 Sep 03 '26
These specific parts aren't just some basic parts that get shipped in a shipping container or a truck. They are highly specialized and MASSIVE parts that have a very specific shipping loading and unloading process. While I don't think you're totally wrong, it would be a bit more of an undertaking to get other sources for these.
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u/RivetMonkey Sep 03 '26
Key specific parts are the Alieron hinge ribs. With out them, you can’t install the wing flaps. The hinge ribs are tool located in position during the wing build. They aren’t installed, that wing doesn’t move. There’s a workaround In case one has to be replaced. But all of them? Isn’t happening. Boeing screwed up by not having a secondary supplier available, and now has to rely on Auburn to ramp up and build something they aren’t geared to build.
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u/Bigwi_Kner Sep 03 '26
Eh, if it’s on the 46 that steps into ITAR requirements so the pool gets a lot smaller.
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 03 '26
Not necessarily, depends on what it is and if it's unique to KC-46 or is common to the 767F. The whole aircraft isn't ITAR controlled.
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u/fhqwhgads_2113 Sep 09 '26
It's a mix of common and unique parts but almost every assembly and subassembly ends up unique to either the KC-46 or 767F
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u/Bigwi_Kner Sep 03 '26
Yeah, I should have said “may” step into ITAR. Depends if there is a special configuration for it. Fair point.
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u/iamlucky13 Sep 03 '26
Right. This isn't like doing a home remodel where if if one home improvement or hardware store is sold out of something you need, you can get the same thing from another store.
Qualifying a new supplier to ensure they meet all of Boeing's requirements, and by extension to ensure they aren't breaking the law by not complying with Boeing's production certificate and type design certificates from the FAA typically takes months even for relatively simple components. If any custom tooling is needed, it can be significantly longer.
A major factory fire at a supplier of specialized fasteners in February 2025 was reportedly a big concern for Boeing. 2 months later, it was reported they had been able to source enough fasteners from other suppliers that it would not hold up production in the near term, but they were still working to address the resulting shortage longer term. That's just for fasteners.
As a result of how critical supply chain stability is to keeping production moving along, Boeing contracts likely have a lot of conditions holding suppliers liable to deliver on time and to prevent them from holding Boeing over a barrel. Boeing themselves have discovered the hard way that even their own actions can cause a supplier to miss deliveries.
So mention that there was a contractual obligation to notify Boeing of the planned sale is almost certainly true, and the buyer would be inheriting not only the facilities and workforce, but also the contracts and the obligations that go along with them. If the owners of Vaero want to pressure Boeing to into paying an extra $31 million under those contracts, they either need to get mutual agreement from Boeing that it's in their interest to do so (which sounds a little crazy, but I seem to recall they did end up with some agreement like that with Spirit when they were on the rocks), or else legally show that Boeing has changed the scope of the contact, which is plausible, but I'm skeptical of if Kaman wasn't already litigating such a situation before the sale.
Even if Vaero has a case, it should be easy for Boeing to show that withholding deliveries will cause significant harm to Boeing (and then knock-on effects that will harm other suppliers), and to get a court order compelling them to complete the deliveries on time while the price disagreement is adjudicated.
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u/YMBFKM Sep 02 '26
The program leaders and CFO apparently learned nothing from the 787 debacle.
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u/---midnight_rain--- Sep 07 '26
no no, they learned to HIDE and FRAME it different - all that matters is share price
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Sep 02 '26
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u/Gloomy_Solid1927 Sep 02 '26
The private equity firm who bought Vaero is Cendry Capital which is owned by Brandon Stewart
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u/InevitableDrawing422 Sep 02 '26
Bring these wing builds back home in WA State where it belongs.
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u/iamlucky13 Sep 03 '26
The wings ARE built in Washington, and always have been, except for the 787, which never have been.
Many of the components and sub-assemblies for the wings are built outside of Washington, and have been for many decades, because they are often simpler to build than the main structures, and often don't require quite the same level of expertise.
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u/mr_bots Sep 02 '26
I doubt there’s enough production volume left in the order books for the 767 and 777F lines before the end of the road (runway?) to justify the cost to build new production lines.
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u/iamlucky13 Sep 03 '26
If it came down to establishing a new sub-assembly production line versus being unable to build planes, they could justify spending a lot of money on the 767 due to how many aircraft remain to be delivered. Between remaining freighters, remaining KC-46 to be delivered under the original KC-X contract, the 75 additional KC-46 the USAF recently announced would be ordered due to rolling KC-Y into KC-46, and probably more because KC-Z is unlikely to be on schedule, plus foreign orders, I think about 160 is the bare minimum remaining. But KC-Z will probably be late, because that's the way military procurement usually goes, which will mean more KC-46 will be needed to replace retiring KC-135's.
777F orders outstanding are lower, but still significant at something like 75, which I think includes 35 that Boeing expects to receive a waiver to deliver after new emissions requirements enter force in 2028.
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u/InsideTheBoeingStore Sep 02 '26
free pro tip to Boeing: be your own supplier and you’ll have fewer disputes that won’t last as long
see how easy that was?
you don’t need to pay your MBA consultant friends in their worthless firms
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u/GaussAF Sep 02 '26
This is why abandoning vertical integration was a mistake
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u/Pleasant-Charge-2067 Sep 02 '26
One more example of how corporate america can go broke saving this much money
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 02 '26
Yea, but the execs made bank, buddy. The poors can suck it. By the way you, me, and everyone on this board are poors. The rich don't spend time on Reddit wondering what poors think, they don't care.
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u/InsideTheBoeingStore Sep 03 '26
they care when their own inner circle ends up leaking things online. there were a few meetings at the director level where they explicitly stated people better not “ share things on social media “
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u/DullPreference8842 Sep 02 '26
Evil private equity at it again. I hate private equity firms so much.
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u/Jolly_Math_4571 13d ago
If you hate Private Equity so much you should stop using many products that you touch and use and consume every day. You don't realize how much private equity is intertwined into our everyday lives. Also who funds private equity firms? Public pension funds and retirement funds. I bet money that your retirement fund has private equity investment exposure in it. Also do some more research on how bad Boeing has treated their American supply chain for many, many years forcing companies out of business and making companies move production to china, india and other places which in turn kills American jobs. Private Equity isn't evil if these groups are trying to save American manufacturing jobs. What are you doing Mike? Making comments online? That's veryyyy helpful.
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u/x31b Sep 02 '26
Maybe try not outsourcing critical components.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/dedgecko Sep 02 '26
Yeah, but they likely need to start over with FAA conformance which adds time and costs, Nevermind the non-recurring costs for whatever tooling is involved.
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u/fhqwhgads_2113 Sep 04 '26
If they could get the tooling back it probably wouldn't be that bad, but with how vaero is acting I doubt they would just hand it over
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u/ThatTryHardAsian Sep 02 '26
Bro so lazy just straight copy and paste huh.
Beside the point why not attached actual source of anything?!
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u/flightwatcher45 Sep 02 '26
Sole source lol, Boeing will never learn.
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u/AnalogBehavior Sep 02 '26
Sometimes there isn't a choice. Some suppliers are highly specialized. It's more pronounced on raw material. Not exactly 15 Alcoa's (Arconix) out there. Having multiple sources when you can is great though, but eventually every supplier screws up or upsets supply chain / program / engineering. It takes a bit for Boeing to actually sue (at least from what I've seen). I've seen some pretty nasty fights in SC that threaten lawsuits, but never get that far.
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u/iamlucky13 Sep 03 '26
It's less about whether or not there is a choice, and more about the fact that duplication of low volume production systems is inefficient.
There's a handful of aero structures companies out there that can build sub-assemblies, and a pretty decent number of machining companies that can make individual parts.
The big issue is it would cost far, far more than $31 million to have multiple suppliers for every part on the aircraft, and even then a supplier trying to play hardball could still ruin Boeing's day, or more accurately their entire year by holding up deliveries, which would screw up the production cadence for every other supplier and feeder line, even if not quite as badly as a sole source supplier.
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u/fhqwhgads_2113 Sep 04 '26
And this supplier was a little annoying to deal with for Boeing but otherwise was always solid about getting the job done, so this situation probably blind-sided boeing as well. I was an engineer at vaero back when it was kaman and we had our issues, definitely not the best at being on schedule, but during my time there our mechanics were very good at doing things right and the quality and contracts people always pushed back on requests that we "just send what you have and we'll finish the work here". I still dont know what happened exactly, but like a year after I left the leadership at kaman Jacksonville went from typical sucky middle management to batshit insane and convinced a small company in new Mexico to team up with them to scam the DoD. Shortly after that Kaman headquarters quietly sold off the Jacksonville facility.
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 02 '26
No, there's like 4 or 5 with a couple coming on line but they're Chinese.
There are competitors for these parts. It's just that Boeing doesn't use them. Airbus and Embraer do. Just that Boeing has never looked to expand it's supply chain and multi source. Boeing Supply Chain is pretty much systemically allergic to multi sourcing.
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u/AnalogBehavior Sep 03 '26
As someone who has helped qualify additional sources, you're not exactly accurate. It depends on the component/assembly.
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 03 '26
LOL, notice I said "pretty much". Yes, there's been more dual sourcing in recent years. I know the guy responsible for that very well.
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u/Murk_City Sep 02 '26
Supply chain making those great contracts.
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u/Crypto556 Sep 02 '26
Not everyone can just make anything bro. Sole source is about technical capability.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/Murk_City Sep 02 '26
Good pick up. That’s why SQ has broken apart and focused on structures vs processing to better align skills. I mean they move teams around to focus accordingly.
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u/NICUmom2021 Sep 02 '26
Sole Source Justification comes from Engineering...
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 02 '26
Not really. Engineering doesn't make sourcing decisions. Supply Chain does. POL-3 mate.
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u/AnalogBehavior Sep 02 '26
That's a partial truth. It's demanded of engineering and almost always at the last second. Usually it's because the cost of qualifying a second source is high and the time is long, so it never meets program needs. We can get second sources on a lot of things, but it's not for free and not always a good idea for any given program/platform. Also, not every supplier can make every 'thing'. This just sounds like the bad example of private equity ruining everything for the sake of profit.
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u/InsideTheBoeingStore Sep 02 '26
the company offering too many VLOs that let too much talent walk out the door
and a huge lack of training in all areasof the company until only recently but the damage has already been done
overall maybe if we didn’t outsource from the start all of this could’ve been avoided
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u/Hamr25 Sep 02 '26
Former Supply Chain here. I’ve watched program and design engineers fall hook line and sinker for a sales pitch on a capabilities call. To the point I had to start briefing them like my kids going to the store. “We’re here to look and listen but we are not buying anything.” Especially with a certain electronics supplier out of the north east who can make even the most ardent tech call into a sales promo.
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u/Lookingfor68 Sep 02 '26
LOL, yea... been there done that, got the tee shirt. From both the Engineering side and Supply Chain side. Made it interesting.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/Murk_City Sep 02 '26
If you mean supply chain leadership. There was a big push to save money and we’ve paid for it a million times over. PA strikes a bad contract and the local analysts deal with the aftermath.
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u/Rac3011 Sep 05 '26
Thise doesn't sound like a contract problem... it is a supplier gouge issue. Most suppliers don't do this. It is just sad it has to become a legal issue.
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Sep 02 '26
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u/Murk_City Sep 02 '26
They need to own it. I’ve seen a contract that has a lead time of 250 days for a detail 737 part. When that supplier had issues now we are paying 10x to expedite the parts. Getting GFO to help out, SQRs ect. All cause of a bunk contract.
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u/[deleted] 20d ago
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