Boeing building a culture where all speak up freely, says Salil Gupte

Boeing India President Salil Gupte says employees must feel comfortable speaking up on issues as Indian suppliers move from build-to-print to build-to-specification

 

US aerospace company Boeing is building a culture where employees are "comfortable speaking up" when they see issues, so that they can be resolved before they escalate, its India & South Asia President Salil Gupte said on Thursday.

 

Boeing has faced multiple challenges in recent years, including quality control lapses, safety incidents, regulatory scrutiny, labour disruptions, and supply-chain problems, all of which have slowed aircraft production.

 

For Indian carriers like Air India and Akasa Air, this has led to delays and uncertainty in delivery schedules, complicating fleet expansion and network growth plans. This comes at a time when demand for air travel in India is growing rapidly.

 

Gupte was speaking at a symposium organised by Indian Foundation For Quality Management (IFQM). 

 

When asked what Boeing has learnt from its sequence of errors in recent years and how it plans to bounce back, Gupte replied, "I'll give a very quick answer to your question, because it's a pretty straightforward one. It starts with culture, right? Nobody in the aviation business wakes up in the morning saying, 'You know what, I'm going to build something unsafe today.' Nobody in their right mind does that. All of our loved ones fly on these airplanes every single day, right?"

 

"And, so you need to make sure that you are building a culture where people are comfortable speaking up, quickly, transparently when they see an issue, disclosing issues, addressing issues before they kind of roll down the line. And if you're able to build a culture that does that, the rest tends to take care of itself. Yes, you need to incorporate better processes, better tools, and those things all help but fundamentally, the culture matters the most," he added.

 

Gupte, while talking about India's role in the global aviation supply chain, said the next frontier for Indian aerospace component suppliers is "build-to-specification." Here, suppliers develop their own intellectual property and designs instead of simply following blueprints given by Boeing.

 

“In other words, we don’t give you the drawings. The intellectual property is yours to develop. That’s where the real returns are in this business,” he said, highlighting the opportunities and challenges ahead.

 

He added that over the past decade, India has steadily moved up the value chain for Boeing — from producing simple forgings and machine parts to complex assemblies and carbon composite work with partners such as Tata, Motherson, Godrej and Mahindra. 

 

“We created joint ventures for various parts of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Then, we moved into areas that require manipulation of carbon composite materials, and took a step-wise fashion on what we call build-to-print areas,” he said.

 

Build-to-print refers to suppliers manufacturing components strictly according to detailed drawings and specifications provided by the original equipment maker (OEM), where consistent quality is key to winning larger orders.

 

Gupte pointed out that Boeing’s annual sourcing from India has risen nearly fivefold in the last seven to eight years — from about ₹2,000 crore to around ₹10,000 crore. This comes as domestic suppliers proved their quality credentials.

 

He noted that moving into build-to-specification also requires engagement with global regulators. 

 

“Then, you are in a world where you are going to have to get that certified with global regulators, whether it’s the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States or European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in Europe or wherever else. The certification process on those types of designs, getting onto an aircraft platform can be two to three years,” he said.

 

Gupte expressed confidence that Indian suppliers would be able to make this leap from build-to-print to build-to-specification.