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I discovered this morning that I wasn't able to post comments here! So I've updated the comments handling to use a pop-up window, and broadened the universe of people who may post comments.

Emirates unhappy with Airbus A380

If this article proves true, Airbus' fragile reputation for the A380 superjumbo is in for a drubbing (H/T Lucianne.com):

DUBAI-BASED airline Emirates is unhappy with its first four giant Airbus A380 aircraft, which showed manufacturing faults that forced flights to be cancelled, a report said on Saturday.

The German weekly Der Spiegel, in its issue to be published on Monday, said Emirates in February gave Airbus officials a 46-page report listing its complaints, including burned electric cables, missing cabin fittings and engine defects.

A source close to Airbus told AFP on Thursday Emirates was seeking a delay in the delivery of several of the long-haul A380 superjumbo jets because of financing difficulties.

The airline is Airbus's biggest customer for the double-decker A380, having ordered 58 of them.

The quality issues could provide the Emirates with the leverage to renegotiate their contract, and ease their financing difficulties.

Related post: Airbus Discovers Integration Matters

Cross-posted at RareKate Writes.

NASA's Counterfeit Problem

ABC News ran this story today:

NASA Satellites Get 'Counterfeit' Parts; Taxpayers Pay
Agency Chief Says Suppliers Sometimes Skip Safety Tests

Oh my!

The gist of the story is that some suppliers lied about running all the qualification tests NASA demanded, requiring NASA to do unplanned testing to ensure suitability.

[T]here have been cases in which [NASA] says companies have supplied it with parts or materials that were not what had been originally promised.

The most recent case involves NASA's Kepler probe [...] Engineers built Kepler to spend at least three years in solar orbit, with a powerful camera to look for evidence of Earth-like planets circling other stars.

Last fall, a supplier was indicted for selling falsely approved titanium to NASA and the U.S. Air Force -- including the metal for Kepler's camera mount. That did not necessarily mean the titanium was in danger of failing, but the company had allegedly falsified its records to say it had done all the necessary tests.

"We analyzed the mount for about three weeks," said J.D. Harrington, a spokesman for NASA, "and we found the titanium to be well within performance requirements."

I wonder how the fraud was uncovered.

Supplier management is a challenge for any company. The QA department is often a key line of defense, either through incoming inspection or source inspections. Continued vigilance after initial supplier qualification is required lest "shortcuts" subvert the established processes and invalidate the suppliers' product pedigree.