Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems on Thursday following the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines door blowout incident.
Paxton is investigating the supplier’s manufacturing processes after “reoccurring issues” with parts sent to Boeing, according to an announcement from the attorney general’s office. Texas allows its attorney general to investigate a company and its organization, conduct and management by examing relevant documents.
“The potential risks associated with certain airplane models are deeply concerning and potentially life-threatening to Texans,” Paxton said in a statement. “I will hold any company responsible if they fail to maintain the standards required by the law and will do everything in my power to ensure manufacturers take passenger safety seriously.”
Paxton is requesting all communication between Spirit AeroSystems and its investors and between it and Boeing regarding misdrilled bulkhead holes in the company’s products, like those in question related to the Alaska Airlines flight.
The attorney general requested the demographics of all Spirit AeroSystems employees laid off in 2020 at its facilities in Kansas and Oklahoma.
The state official is also after the personnel file of whistleblower Joshua Dean, who spoke up after the Jan. 5 incident, The Seattle Times reported. Dean worked as a quality auditor at the manufacturer’s facility in Wichita, Kansas, where they assembled the fuselages and other large parts.
Dean was fired last year for allegedly failing to conduct inspections. Paxton is requesting all communication and records regarding Dean’s termination.
Paxton is demanding Spirit AeroSystems’ employee demographics before and after the Boeing supplier enacted its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative, including the workers’ race, national origin, sexual orientation and age. Former CEO Thomas Gentile signed global nonprofit Catalyst’s pledge to accelerate diversity, inclusion, and gender equity within the company in 2020.
The request is for Spirit AeroSystems to provide any documentation that it “‘relies on to substantiate its claim that a diverse workplace improves product quality and /or “enhance[s] performance’ and/or ‘helps [Spirit] . . . make better decisions.’”
Spirit AeroSystems set a goal to increase the number of women in leadership roles globally by 30% and the number of minorities in leadership roles by 20% by 2030, according to its 2022 sustainability report.
The supplier has until April 17 to submit the documents.
“While I will not comment on any investigations, we are wholly focused on providing our customers with the best quality product,” Spirit AeroSystems spokesperson Joe Buccino said in a statement Friday to Manufacturing Dive.