John Glenn, the famous astronaut and politician, wrote about his history-making earth orbit flight, “As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind: Every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.” Today, we are all John Glenn.

The news about the 737 MAX has got me thinking about my own experience with the aerospace industry. There’s something cultural about the avionics and aerospace industries, the Defense Department and the FAA; they are impervious to ideas. The status quo cannot be unseated.

While manufacturers agree that the quality revolution that began in the 1980s is a good thing, quality does not seem to have improved as a result.

Multinationals are using overseas subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in federal taxes. Is that a problem? How would you fix it? Should the federal government provide a tax break for repatriated corporate earnings?

Manufacturers often fail to recognize the ability of their employees to learn and think.

Several respondents to my original blog say the 787's battery problems are a minor blip that Boeing will correct quickly. My impression is that the battery is becoming aviation’s equivalent of the Ford Pinto.

Did cost-cutting strategy jeopardize the production of what should have been an engineering triumph?

Our guest blogger wonders whether Apple's recent decision to invest $100 million to manufacture iMacs in the United States is a token gesture or a sign of things to come.

Automation is wonderfully economical—except when it’s not. Time and again, I’ve seen smart engineers make dumb automation decisions, some of them ruinous.