Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2012 Inductee: Jim McNerney

Dec. 17, 2012

As the CEO of Boeing since July 2005, McNerney has brought much-needed stability to the aerospace giant’s executive suite, leading Boeing to record revenue and helping the company reclaim its crown as the world’s top commercial-airplane manufacturer.

Josh Cable

When Jim McNerney took the helm at Boeing Co. (IW 500/16 ) in July 2005, the aerospace giant was reeling. Rival Airbus SAS had seized the throne as the world's top commercial-airplane manufacturer, and Boeing's reputation had taken a nosedive after its two previous CEOs had resigned in disgrace.

Boeing was in dire need of solid, stable leadership -- and the company found it in McNerney, a 19-year veteran of General Electric Co. (IW 500/5) who had been leading 3M Co. (IW 500/44 ) since 2001.

"He brought ethics and integrity, and made it a source of competitive advantage for Boeing," asserts Peter Cohan, author of "You Can't Order Change: Lessons From Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing."

Although Cohan characterizes McNerney's initial meeting with top Boeing executives as a "come-to-Jesus" moment, he emphasizes that McNerney's strength is "his ability to instill a set of values into an organization and to create a culture that gets people aligned."

"He did the same thing at 3M in terms of creating a sense of values that were shared by the organization, and the interesting thing is that he did not just impose them from on high," Cohan says. "Instead, he would spend a fairly long period of time getting people in the organization to listen to his ideas, and he would listen to their ideas, and they would harmonize on a set of values" that served as McNerney's compass.

McNerney's impact, however, extends far beyond ethics and values. At 3M, McNerney leveraged cost cutting, continuous improvement and strategic repositioning to improve profit margins and guide the company to then-record highs in earnings and sales. In 2004, McNerney's last full year at 3M, sales topped $20 billion for the first time in company history.

It's been a similar story at Boeing, which reported a 21% increase in full-year 2011 net income on record revenue of $68.7 billion. The company ended 2011 with a record order backlog of $356 billion.

In late 2012, Boeing reclaimed the crown as the world's top airplane manufacturer, booking twice as many orders as Airbus, which had held the distinction since 2006.

For a full list of the Manufacturing Hall of Fame inductees, click here.

About the Author

Josh Cable | Former Senior Editor

Former Senior Editor Josh Cable covered innovation issues -- including trends and best practices in R&D, process improvement and product development. He also reported on the best practices of the most successful companies and executives in the world of transportation manufacturing, which encompasses the aerospace, automotive, rail and shipbuilding sectors.

Josh also led the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame, IW’s annual tribute to the most influential executives and thought leaders in U.S. manufacturing history.

Before joining IndustryWeek, Josh was the editor-in-chief of Penton Media’s Government Product News and Government Procurement. He also was an award-winning beat reporter for several small newspapers in Northeast Ohio.

Josh received his BFA in creative writing from Bowling Green University, and continued his professional development through course-work at Ohio University and Cuyahoga Community College.

A lifelong resident of the Buckeye State, Josh currently lives in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. When the weather cooperates, you’ll find him riding his bike to work, exercising his green thumb in the backyard or playing ultimate Frisbee.