Updated on November 5, 2015
BOEING COMPLAINS FORD HOGGING ALUMINUM SUPPLY TO BUILD NEW F-150
AEROSPACE GIANT RESORTS TO BUYING RECYCLED ALUMINUM
CANS FROM THE HOMELESS TO COMPLETE JET ORDERS
CANS FROM THE HOMELESS TO COMPLETE JET ORDERS
Boeing’s plant in Everett, Washington normally is a busy place, with new airliners being constructed inside the enormous assembly building, while others sit parked on the tarmac waiting for delivery to airlines worldwide. But these days, the Boeing property looks more like an aircraft graveyard, as dozens of new airliners are stalled in various stages of construction because of a shortage of aluminum. Who’s to blame? Boeing execs point the finger squarely at the Ford Motor Company.
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| Homeless man (lower right) waits in front of an unfinished airliner and a mountain of scrap aluminum to sell Boeing a bag of recycled cans he carried on his bicycle. |
“We never ran out of aluminum until Ford decided they just had to have an aluminum pickup truck,” said Bodie Yampacker, Boeing’s Director of Production. “All the aluminum is going to the Ford plant.”
The strong but lightweight metal is so scarce that Boeing has been forced to purchase recycled aluminum cans from the homeless just to keep up with orders from airlines.
“We get maybe two hundred guys a day who ride their bicycles over here loaded with hundreds of pounds of crushed cans,” said Yampacker. “God bless ’em,” he said, “They’re saving our ass.” But the frustrated Yampacker doesn’t have such complimentary words for Ford. “I don’t get why they need an aluminum truck anyway. I mean, it doesn’t fly. I hope it melts.”
“We get maybe two hundred guys a day who ride their bicycles over here loaded with hundreds of pounds of crushed cans,” said Yampacker. “God bless ’em,” he said, “They’re saving our ass.” But the frustrated Yampacker doesn’t have such complimentary words for Ford. “I don’t get why they need an aluminum truck anyway. I mean, it doesn’t fly. I hope it melts.”
