By Katy Stech
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The state of South Carolina has borrowed the money it intends to give Boeing Co. to cover more than one-third of the cost of the aerospace giant's $750 million assembly plant for the 787 jet in North Charleston.
The state's treasury office recently closed on $270 million in bonds, which Boeing doesn't have to pay back.
The company plans to spend most of that -- $206.1 million -- on the 787 assembly building, which construction workers recently began framing out.
Boeing plans to spend another $10 million of bond money on roads and $53.9 million on site work and utilities, according a state Department of Commerce document.
In return, Boeing has agreed to hire at least 6,000 workers by 2016 at its Charleston International Airport campus. Roughly 3,000 workers already report to the site, where the company makes two key pieces of the 787 fuselage.
So far, Boeing has requested and received slightly more than $13.82 million of the $270 million in bond proceeds, Commerce Department marketing and communications manager Kara Borie said.
Three investment firms participated in the first debt issue: Banc of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc.
This was the only planned bond issue from the state's portion of the Boeing incentive package.
The borrowing costs during the 15-year repayment period will amount to about $90 million, a figure that's smaller than what state officials originally expected to spend.
State treasury officials estimated in January that the total cost of the bonds, including premium and interest, would amount to $399 million. Instead, the cost is projected to be about $360 million.
The bonds carry an interest rate of 3.3 percent.
"Market conditions can change significantly in six months, and we did effect the sale under some very favorable market conditions," said Rick Harmon, senior assistant to state Treasurer Converse Chellis.
The debt will be repaid from the state's general operating fund.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Dream on the line
By Katy Stech
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
A delegation of the Charleston area's top business recruiters flew to Washington state Monday for a weeklong visit that includes a tour of Boeing Co.'s main manufacturing hub and meetings with the aerospace giant's key suppliers.
The entourage is being led by David Ginn, chief executive officer of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which markets the three counties to employers that are looking to expand.
The visit has raised some eyebrows in the Seattle area, where business boosters who are highly protective of their region's high-paying aerospace jobs still feel the sting of Boeing's decision to build its new 787 assembly plant in North Charleston.
a big sell. I know they are, but I feel good about what we have here too," said Deborah Knutson, who heads Snohomish County's Economic Development Council. "I honestly don't think companies are going to pack up here and leave, but they could do an expansion in Charleston. And if an expansion need to be done, that's growing our companies, so it can be a win-win."
Knutson's group is demonstrating its own brand of hospitality by throwing a breakfast this morning for the Charleston area delegation and some top aerospace players. She said she thinks she knows some of the companies that Ginn's group plans to meet with, but she declined to identify them.
Joining Ginn on the cross-county trip are the economic development directors for all three counties: Steve Dykes from Charleston County, Gene Butler from Berkeley County and Jon Baggett from Dorchester County.
Heyward Horton, who recruits employers for the alliance, also made the trek, as did utility executives from South Carolina Electric & Gas, Santee Cooper and Berkeley Electric Cooperative.
Alliance spokeswoman Karen Kuchenbecker shied away from the notion that the purpose of the trip is to persuade Seattle businesses to relocate in the Charleston area.
"It's not technically to recruit," she said. "It's to get our community to understand what we can do to make Boeing successful."
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
A delegation of the Charleston area's top business recruiters flew to Washington state Monday for a weeklong visit that includes a tour of Boeing Co.'s main manufacturing hub and meetings with the aerospace giant's key suppliers.
The entourage is being led by David Ginn, chief executive officer of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which markets the three counties to employers that are looking to expand.
The visit has raised some eyebrows in the Seattle area, where business boosters who are highly protective of their region's high-paying aerospace jobs still feel the sting of Boeing's decision to build its new 787 assembly plant in North Charleston.
a big sell. I know they are, but I feel good about what we have here too," said Deborah Knutson, who heads Snohomish County's Economic Development Council. "I honestly don't think companies are going to pack up here and leave, but they could do an expansion in Charleston. And if an expansion need to be done, that's growing our companies, so it can be a win-win."
Knutson's group is demonstrating its own brand of hospitality by throwing a breakfast this morning for the Charleston area delegation and some top aerospace players. She said she thinks she knows some of the companies that Ginn's group plans to meet with, but she declined to identify them.
Joining Ginn on the cross-county trip are the economic development directors for all three counties: Steve Dykes from Charleston County, Gene Butler from Berkeley County and Jon Baggett from Dorchester County.
Heyward Horton, who recruits employers for the alliance, also made the trek, as did utility executives from South Carolina Electric & Gas, Santee Cooper and Berkeley Electric Cooperative.
Alliance spokeswoman Karen Kuchenbecker shied away from the notion that the purpose of the trip is to persuade Seattle businesses to relocate in the Charleston area.
"It's not technically to recruit," she said. "It's to get our community to understand what we can do to make Boeing successful."
With so much riding on new 787 composite jet, it's critical for aircraft giant to get Dreamliner right
By John Lippert and Susanna Ray, Bloomberg News
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
As Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney held court in Airbus SAS's backyard at the Paris Air Show in June, he made a promise: He told Wall Street analysts he'd be throwing a party in two weeks -- after the 787 Dreamliner's first test flight.
The plane, which is so radical that its fuselage is formed by wrapping composite-plastic tape around a mold and then baking it, was already two years late for its trial. The delays had crushed Boeing's credibility and helped drive shares down to $51.44 as the show opened from a record $107.83 in 2007.
The celebration wasn't to be. Back in the United States, as McNerney was driving home from Waukegan Regional Airport in Illinois, he got a call from Scott Carson, who was then president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division. Engineers had found separations in layers of plastic where the 787 fuselage meets the wing.
The only option was another delay. News of the postponed flight sent shares tumbling a further 6.5 percent on June 23.
Boeing reinforced the wing joint with titanium, and the Dreamliner flew its much-anticipated three-hour test over Washington state on Dec. 15, almost six months later.
Seated in a Boeing conference room 36 floors above the Chicago River on a blustery March afternoon, McNerney, 60, recalls the June delay.
"It was a tough day, but you've got to be levelheaded around here," he said. "If I get as excited as I want to be about all the cool stuff that happens and as disappointed as I want to feel when stuff doesn't go well, I'd be a Raggedy Ann doll," he said.
Shareholders, who were gathering in Chicago for the company's annual meeting Monday, can relate to that. After watching Boeing stock hit so many peaks and valleys in two decades that its price graph resembles a mountain range, investors are betting the Dreamliner will put Boeing back on the upswing.
"Once Boeing starts delivering the 787, the earnings power will double and the stock will double," predicts David Pearl, co-chief investment officer at New York-based Epoch Investment Partners Inc., which owned 2 million shares of the Chicago-based company as of Dec. 31.
Boeing shares jumped 51 percent to $75.13 in the six months through April 23. The increase was almost four times that of the S&P 500 Index.
Since July 2005, when McNerney took the reins as chairman and CEO after two ethics scandals had rocked the world's biggest aerospace and defense company, the shares have returned 26 percent, double the 13 percent gain for the S&P 500.
Boeing is the only stock with enough liquidity for large-cap portfolio managers looking for aerospace growth, said David Rowlett, a Baltimore-based analyst at T. Rowe Price Group.
"They can generate a lot of cash if they get the 787 right," said Rowlett, whose firm owned 7.9 million shares in December.
Getting it right hasn't been Boeing's forte. The Dreamliner, a two-engine jet that will travel 8,500 nautical miles while burning 20 percent less fuel than competitors, won't earn back Boeing's original investment of about $15 billion until 2018 or later, predicts Heidi Wood, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Last year, Boeing's aircraft orders tumbled 79 percent to 142 amid the worst travel slump since World War II. Profit plummeted 51 percent to $1.3 billion. The company swallowed $1.8 billion in reduced income because of an International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers strike in 2008. And it lost its lead contractor role when the Pentagon canceled the $159 billion Future Combat Systems program, hurting the defense business that delivered 49.1 percent of Boeing's $68.3 billion in 2009 revenue.
On April 21, Boeing said first-quarter net income fell 15 percent to $519 million and revenue dropped 7.8 percent to $15.2 billion.
The 787 has added to the misery. Not only was the Dreamliner the first airliner designed largely with composite materials instead of metals; Boeing also farmed out entire pieces for suppliers to design and build. The company planned to assemble the plane in three days at its Everett, Wash., campus, joining the nose, wings and fuselage into a wide-body jet that could seat up to 290 people.
Major portions of the 787 fuselage are made in North Charleston, where Boeing is building a full production line that will turn out up to three jets per month and complement the primary final assembly plant near Seattle.
The new factory at Charleston International Airport is expected to open in mid-2011.
Boeing and Airbus constantly jockey for orders from the world's 100 major global airlines, New York-based aerospace consultant Wolfgang Demisch said. Winning can come down to price, shrinking pretax profit margins below 10 percent and forcing endless restructurings.
"McNerney is trying to do something that's really hard to do," said Charles Smith, chief investment officer at Pittsburgh-based Fort Pitt Capital Group Inc., which owned 236,000 shares in March.
The 787 will determine McNerney's place in history, Smith said. "If two years from now he's producing eight or ten 787s a month, we'll say he was very capable," he said. "Until then, the jury's out."
With the first 787s due by year-end, investors want to be sure McNerney can deliver steady profits and keep the stock price -- like the Dreamliner -- flying.
The Post and Courier and other Bloomberg reporters contributed to this report.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
As Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney held court in Airbus SAS's backyard at the Paris Air Show in June, he made a promise: He told Wall Street analysts he'd be throwing a party in two weeks -- after the 787 Dreamliner's first test flight.
The plane, which is so radical that its fuselage is formed by wrapping composite-plastic tape around a mold and then baking it, was already two years late for its trial. The delays had crushed Boeing's credibility and helped drive shares down to $51.44 as the show opened from a record $107.83 in 2007.
The celebration wasn't to be. Back in the United States, as McNerney was driving home from Waukegan Regional Airport in Illinois, he got a call from Scott Carson, who was then president of Boeing's commercial aircraft division. Engineers had found separations in layers of plastic where the 787 fuselage meets the wing.
The only option was another delay. News of the postponed flight sent shares tumbling a further 6.5 percent on June 23.
Boeing reinforced the wing joint with titanium, and the Dreamliner flew its much-anticipated three-hour test over Washington state on Dec. 15, almost six months later.
Seated in a Boeing conference room 36 floors above the Chicago River on a blustery March afternoon, McNerney, 60, recalls the June delay.
"It was a tough day, but you've got to be levelheaded around here," he said. "If I get as excited as I want to be about all the cool stuff that happens and as disappointed as I want to feel when stuff doesn't go well, I'd be a Raggedy Ann doll," he said.
Shareholders, who were gathering in Chicago for the company's annual meeting Monday, can relate to that. After watching Boeing stock hit so many peaks and valleys in two decades that its price graph resembles a mountain range, investors are betting the Dreamliner will put Boeing back on the upswing.
"Once Boeing starts delivering the 787, the earnings power will double and the stock will double," predicts David Pearl, co-chief investment officer at New York-based Epoch Investment Partners Inc., which owned 2 million shares of the Chicago-based company as of Dec. 31.
Boeing shares jumped 51 percent to $75.13 in the six months through April 23. The increase was almost four times that of the S&P 500 Index.
Since July 2005, when McNerney took the reins as chairman and CEO after two ethics scandals had rocked the world's biggest aerospace and defense company, the shares have returned 26 percent, double the 13 percent gain for the S&P 500.
Boeing is the only stock with enough liquidity for large-cap portfolio managers looking for aerospace growth, said David Rowlett, a Baltimore-based analyst at T. Rowe Price Group.
"They can generate a lot of cash if they get the 787 right," said Rowlett, whose firm owned 7.9 million shares in December.
Getting it right hasn't been Boeing's forte. The Dreamliner, a two-engine jet that will travel 8,500 nautical miles while burning 20 percent less fuel than competitors, won't earn back Boeing's original investment of about $15 billion until 2018 or later, predicts Heidi Wood, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Last year, Boeing's aircraft orders tumbled 79 percent to 142 amid the worst travel slump since World War II. Profit plummeted 51 percent to $1.3 billion. The company swallowed $1.8 billion in reduced income because of an International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers strike in 2008. And it lost its lead contractor role when the Pentagon canceled the $159 billion Future Combat Systems program, hurting the defense business that delivered 49.1 percent of Boeing's $68.3 billion in 2009 revenue.
On April 21, Boeing said first-quarter net income fell 15 percent to $519 million and revenue dropped 7.8 percent to $15.2 billion.
The 787 has added to the misery. Not only was the Dreamliner the first airliner designed largely with composite materials instead of metals; Boeing also farmed out entire pieces for suppliers to design and build. The company planned to assemble the plane in three days at its Everett, Wash., campus, joining the nose, wings and fuselage into a wide-body jet that could seat up to 290 people.
Major portions of the 787 fuselage are made in North Charleston, where Boeing is building a full production line that will turn out up to three jets per month and complement the primary final assembly plant near Seattle.
The new factory at Charleston International Airport is expected to open in mid-2011.
Boeing and Airbus constantly jockey for orders from the world's 100 major global airlines, New York-based aerospace consultant Wolfgang Demisch said. Winning can come down to price, shrinking pretax profit margins below 10 percent and forcing endless restructurings.
"McNerney is trying to do something that's really hard to do," said Charles Smith, chief investment officer at Pittsburgh-based Fort Pitt Capital Group Inc., which owned 236,000 shares in March.
The 787 will determine McNerney's place in history, Smith said. "If two years from now he's producing eight or ten 787s a month, we'll say he was very capable," he said. "Until then, the jury's out."
With the first 787s due by year-end, investors want to be sure McNerney can deliver steady profits and keep the stock price -- like the Dreamliner -- flying.
The Post and Courier and other Bloomberg reporters contributed to this report.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Boeing on track for 787 delivery
By JOSHUA FREED, Associated Press
Thursday, April 22, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- Boeing Co.'s first-quarter profit fell almost 15 percent as it delivered fewer aircraft, but the company said it's on track for its most closely watched delivery, the first 787, by the end of the year.
Boeing's first-quarter report Wednesday was notable for all the potential bad news that wasn't there. Sticking with plans to deliver the 787 by the end of the year might reassure those analysts who had been worried about further delays.
Its 2010 profit guidance remained unchanged, except for an accounting charge that investors found out about last month. And it said 2011 revenue should rise.
"The financial outlook for the world's airlines has improved noticeably since last quarter," said Jim McNerney, chairman, president and chief executive officer, on a conference call Wednesday.
In relatively short order, Boeing has become one of the Charleston region's most important private-sector employers under an expansion driven by the delayed launch of its new 787 passenger plane.
Since last summer the aerospace giant has purchased two North Charleston-based suppliers that make major pieces of the jet's fuselage. In the fall, Boeing picked Charleston International Airport as the site for its second 787 assembly plant, "which is now well into construction," McNerney said.
The existing Dreamliner production facility is in Everett, Wash.
The North Charleston factory is set to open in mid-2011. It is expected to employ several thousand workers and turn out three 787s a month starting around 2013. Boeing estimated that its investment in its North Charleston expansion this year will total around $700 million.
Beset by production problems with suppliers, the 787 took its first flight more than two years late. Boeing said the test fleet has flown for a total of 500 hours as of Friday. One of the planes was moved to Florida on Sunday for extreme-weather testing at Eglin Air Force Base.
McNerney said the 787 "is performing very well."
Boeing has orders for 866 of the planes, from 57 customers. The sooner Boeing delivers the plane, the sooner it gets paid, although customers have made major pre-delivery payments.
Japan's All Nippon Airlines is set to take delivery of the first model later this year, a target that McNerney said was still on track.
The 787 update came as Boeing said it earned $519 million during its first quarter, or 70 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of about 63 cents per share.
Revenue fell almost 8 percent to $15.2 billion, close to what analysts had forecast.
The Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor said it expects revenue of $64 billion to $66 billion this year. Analysts had been expecting $65.04 billion.
It reduced its full-year forecast to $3.50 to $3.80 per share to account for a previously announced charge of 20 cents per share related to recently passed health care legislation.
Boeing said it expects that 2011 revenue will be higher as it delivers the 787 and a new version of its 747.
McNerney said the company will decide soon whether to increase the production rate on its workhorse 737 from the current 31 per month.
Boeing's commercial airplanes unit delivered 108 aircraft during the first three months of 2010, down 11 percent from 121 planes a year earlier.
Revenue fell 13 percent to $7.47 billion. That segment's profit jumped 63 percent to $679 million because the year-ago quarter was held down by an accounting charge.
John P. McDermott of The Post and Courier contributed to this story.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS -- Boeing Co.'s first-quarter profit fell almost 15 percent as it delivered fewer aircraft, but the company said it's on track for its most closely watched delivery, the first 787, by the end of the year.
Boeing's first-quarter report Wednesday was notable for all the potential bad news that wasn't there. Sticking with plans to deliver the 787 by the end of the year might reassure those analysts who had been worried about further delays.
Its 2010 profit guidance remained unchanged, except for an accounting charge that investors found out about last month. And it said 2011 revenue should rise.
"The financial outlook for the world's airlines has improved noticeably since last quarter," said Jim McNerney, chairman, president and chief executive officer, on a conference call Wednesday.
In relatively short order, Boeing has become one of the Charleston region's most important private-sector employers under an expansion driven by the delayed launch of its new 787 passenger plane.
Since last summer the aerospace giant has purchased two North Charleston-based suppliers that make major pieces of the jet's fuselage. In the fall, Boeing picked Charleston International Airport as the site for its second 787 assembly plant, "which is now well into construction," McNerney said.
The existing Dreamliner production facility is in Everett, Wash.
The North Charleston factory is set to open in mid-2011. It is expected to employ several thousand workers and turn out three 787s a month starting around 2013. Boeing estimated that its investment in its North Charleston expansion this year will total around $700 million.
Beset by production problems with suppliers, the 787 took its first flight more than two years late. Boeing said the test fleet has flown for a total of 500 hours as of Friday. One of the planes was moved to Florida on Sunday for extreme-weather testing at Eglin Air Force Base.
McNerney said the 787 "is performing very well."
Boeing has orders for 866 of the planes, from 57 customers. The sooner Boeing delivers the plane, the sooner it gets paid, although customers have made major pre-delivery payments.
Japan's All Nippon Airlines is set to take delivery of the first model later this year, a target that McNerney said was still on track.
The 787 update came as Boeing said it earned $519 million during its first quarter, or 70 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of about 63 cents per share.
Revenue fell almost 8 percent to $15.2 billion, close to what analysts had forecast.
The Chicago-based aerospace and defense contractor said it expects revenue of $64 billion to $66 billion this year. Analysts had been expecting $65.04 billion.
It reduced its full-year forecast to $3.50 to $3.80 per share to account for a previously announced charge of 20 cents per share related to recently passed health care legislation.
Boeing said it expects that 2011 revenue will be higher as it delivers the 787 and a new version of its 747.
McNerney said the company will decide soon whether to increase the production rate on its workhorse 737 from the current 31 per month.
Boeing's commercial airplanes unit delivered 108 aircraft during the first three months of 2010, down 11 percent from 121 planes a year earlier.
Revenue fell 13 percent to $7.47 billion. That segment's profit jumped 63 percent to $679 million because the year-ago quarter was held down by an accounting charge.
John P. McDermott of The Post and Courier contributed to this story.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Learning the Drill
The Post and Courier
Katy Stech
April 13, 2010
Power tools and teaching diagrams at Boeing Co.'s state-funded training facility in North Charleston sit in the shadow of two giant, thin arcs -- the cross section of a 787 Dreamliner jet.
The composite half-circles will help future Boeing employees get used to their new jobs, where reporting to work means descending into a dark, hollow tube to drill holes and seal fasteners. A training video showed some employees crawling through oval passenger windows to get to their work spaces.
"Make 'em work upside down," said Jeff Stone, director of training and employee development for Boeing. "Make them walk into an airplane with tools and (debris collection) bags, and then walk out at the end of the day."
Company officials and state program directors showed off the aerospace giant's new training space Monday at Trident Technical College's main campus on Rivers Avenue.
The facility has a smattering of teaching stations throughout the 22,000-square-foot building, which formerly was used by Robert Bosch, DuPont and other manufacturers under similar state training programs.
The program has graduated 1,700 Boeing workers, and the company's new 787 assembly line, scheduled to open next year at Charleston International Airport, will employ nearly 4,000. It's unclear how much training activity will occur at the center during the next few months.
State training officials stopped taking job applications on Boeing's behalf in January, and they have 1,315 applicants who already have qualified for the training but haven't started the program. Many of them won't be hired by Boeing before the end of the year, Stone said.
The training-schedule slowdown also caused state officials to back out of a deal with the city of North Charleston, which offered to lease to the company the 56,000-square-foot former city hall building on Lacross Road. The state had planned to use the building to recruit and train Boeing employees, but officials said they don't need the extra space anymore.
The training program does not expect to solicit more applicants until early next year.
"We don't want to create false hope," said Jim Maxon, the Boeing project director for ReadySC, a division of the S.C. Technical College System.
Meanwhile, the local head count at Boeing's two existing 787 fuselage plants near the airport has surged, increasing from about 2,200 workers last summer to 3,000 as the company plants ramp up to a quicker production rate.
Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger wouldn't say whether the new workers were hired locally or brought in from elsewhere. Stone said the company is trying to maintain a balance between experienced workers and fresh hires.
Regardless, the state training center is ready to accommodate new workers for their typical eight-week training program and subsequent certification classes.
On Monday, a round of instructors explained the ins and outs of aircraft manufacturing, from how to properly drill fasteners into composite plates to repacking tools into pre-assembled kits to ensure that nothing is left behind. Anytime a tool or a piece of equipment disappears in an aircraft plant it is considered a serious matter, instructor Tony Walters said.
"It could bring an aircraft down," he said.
One station will show workers how to squeeze sealants between metal pieces, cutting back on long-term wear and protecting against cabin pressure drops. The trick for employees, instructor Greg Bartle said, is to figure out how little of the product to use.
"Every bit they put on, it adds weight," he said.
The state program, which is projected to cost $33 million during the next 15 years, pays for a worker's training costs, including instruction time and tools. Boeing pays each trainee's wages.
Officials said the training program helped seal the deal for landing the company's second 787 assembly line. The other is near Seattle. While searching for plant sites, Boeing told state officials that it was worried about finding enough skilled workers in the Lowcountry, which doesn't have a long-standing aviation manufacturing presence.
Katy Stech
April 13, 2010
Power tools and teaching diagrams at Boeing Co.'s state-funded training facility in North Charleston sit in the shadow of two giant, thin arcs -- the cross section of a 787 Dreamliner jet.
The composite half-circles will help future Boeing employees get used to their new jobs, where reporting to work means descending into a dark, hollow tube to drill holes and seal fasteners. A training video showed some employees crawling through oval passenger windows to get to their work spaces.
"Make 'em work upside down," said Jeff Stone, director of training and employee development for Boeing. "Make them walk into an airplane with tools and (debris collection) bags, and then walk out at the end of the day."
Company officials and state program directors showed off the aerospace giant's new training space Monday at Trident Technical College's main campus on Rivers Avenue.
The facility has a smattering of teaching stations throughout the 22,000-square-foot building, which formerly was used by Robert Bosch, DuPont and other manufacturers under similar state training programs.
The program has graduated 1,700 Boeing workers, and the company's new 787 assembly line, scheduled to open next year at Charleston International Airport, will employ nearly 4,000. It's unclear how much training activity will occur at the center during the next few months.
State training officials stopped taking job applications on Boeing's behalf in January, and they have 1,315 applicants who already have qualified for the training but haven't started the program. Many of them won't be hired by Boeing before the end of the year, Stone said.
The training-schedule slowdown also caused state officials to back out of a deal with the city of North Charleston, which offered to lease to the company the 56,000-square-foot former city hall building on Lacross Road. The state had planned to use the building to recruit and train Boeing employees, but officials said they don't need the extra space anymore.
The training program does not expect to solicit more applicants until early next year.
"We don't want to create false hope," said Jim Maxon, the Boeing project director for ReadySC, a division of the S.C. Technical College System.
Meanwhile, the local head count at Boeing's two existing 787 fuselage plants near the airport has surged, increasing from about 2,200 workers last summer to 3,000 as the company plants ramp up to a quicker production rate.
Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger wouldn't say whether the new workers were hired locally or brought in from elsewhere. Stone said the company is trying to maintain a balance between experienced workers and fresh hires.
Regardless, the state training center is ready to accommodate new workers for their typical eight-week training program and subsequent certification classes.
On Monday, a round of instructors explained the ins and outs of aircraft manufacturing, from how to properly drill fasteners into composite plates to repacking tools into pre-assembled kits to ensure that nothing is left behind. Anytime a tool or a piece of equipment disappears in an aircraft plant it is considered a serious matter, instructor Tony Walters said.
"It could bring an aircraft down," he said.
One station will show workers how to squeeze sealants between metal pieces, cutting back on long-term wear and protecting against cabin pressure drops. The trick for employees, instructor Greg Bartle said, is to figure out how little of the product to use.
"Every bit they put on, it adds weight," he said.
The state program, which is projected to cost $33 million during the next 15 years, pays for a worker's training costs, including instruction time and tools. Boeing pays each trainee's wages.
Officials said the training program helped seal the deal for landing the company's second 787 assembly line. The other is near Seattle. While searching for plant sites, Boeing told state officials that it was worried about finding enough skilled workers in the Lowcountry, which doesn't have a long-standing aviation manufacturing presence.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
One giant step
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Boeing Co.'s new 787 assembly plant began to take shape Monday, with a lone 35-foot-long steel beam jutting straight from the ground.
After the piercing blast of an air horn, company executives and elected officials watched as the gray beam was lowered into place, a major milestone for Boeing's $750 million investment that's expected to bring several thousand jobs to North Charleston and put the Lowcountry on the map as a major aviation hub.
Work crews will install hundreds of the I-shaped girders during the next six months, slowly forming the skeleton for the planned 1.2 million-square-foot building that will reach 114 feet into the sky at its peak.
Despite abnormally heavy rainfall in recent months that sent construction managers scrambling, the massive new plant at Charleston International Airport is expected to open on time in July 2011, according to Boeing.
After that, nearly 4,000 workers are expected to report to the 787 final-assembly site, with major components made around the world entering one end of the building as individual pieces. At a rate of three a month, fully assembled, test-ready Dreamliners will emerge from the other end.
The beam put in place Monday will help support the northeast side of the factory.
"It looks like a simple thing, but it's a lot of work," said Marco Cavazzoni, the site's general manager, who sounded the air horn.
A towering yellow crane lifted the stick of steel off the ground and swung it over packed foundation-ready dirt. Construction workers carefully guided the post using ropes.
The beam was lowered onto a patch of concrete, the exposed top of a rebar-enforced stake that skewers the ground by roughly 80 feet. Within minutes, workers screwed on jumbo-size caps to secure it into place.
Over the coming months, crews will pour 1.08 million cubic feet of cement to lay the site's foundation -- enough to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Boeing broke ground on the Dreamliner project in November. Days later, heavy-equipment operators had all but finished clearing 150 acres of dense forest behind Boeing's two existing Dreamliner fuselage plants.
Next month, workers will begin putting on the roof, and construction activity will peak early next year when the frame is enclosed.
The manufacturing plant will be anchored by two 75-foot-tall office towers on either side. Unlike most industrial spaces, design plans call for a strip of windows to let natural light into the building.
The entire structure has a footprint of 12 football fields. Two 787 Dreamliner jets, each with a wingspan of 197 feet, will be able to fit side by side inside.
Boeing's contractor said crews are working at a furious pace to make up for heavier-than-expected rainfall. Since November, the Charleston area has received a drenching 25.9 inches of rain, which is about 9 inches more than average, according to the National Weather Service.
At one point, construction officials ordered dump trucks to haul off the soaking dirt and bring in dry material.
Overall, 27 million cubic feet of earth have been moved around the site, or enough to fill 69,764 dump trucks.
So far, Boeing officials have spent more than 90 percent of the project's budget using South Carolina-based companies, much of which has gone toward the Greenville-based general contractor, BE&K/Turner Construction.
"That's a considerable number when you consider how specialized this building is," said Luther Cochrane, chief executive officer of BE&K.
He added that some features differ from the airplane assembly buildings at the company's manufacturing headquarters in Everett, Wash. It's going to take, for example, 400 tons of equipment to cool the building.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Boeing Co.'s new 787 assembly plant began to take shape Monday, with a lone 35-foot-long steel beam jutting straight from the ground.
After the piercing blast of an air horn, company executives and elected officials watched as the gray beam was lowered into place, a major milestone for Boeing's $750 million investment that's expected to bring several thousand jobs to North Charleston and put the Lowcountry on the map as a major aviation hub.
Work crews will install hundreds of the I-shaped girders during the next six months, slowly forming the skeleton for the planned 1.2 million-square-foot building that will reach 114 feet into the sky at its peak.
Despite abnormally heavy rainfall in recent months that sent construction managers scrambling, the massive new plant at Charleston International Airport is expected to open on time in July 2011, according to Boeing.
After that, nearly 4,000 workers are expected to report to the 787 final-assembly site, with major components made around the world entering one end of the building as individual pieces. At a rate of three a month, fully assembled, test-ready Dreamliners will emerge from the other end.
The beam put in place Monday will help support the northeast side of the factory.
"It looks like a simple thing, but it's a lot of work," said Marco Cavazzoni, the site's general manager, who sounded the air horn.
A towering yellow crane lifted the stick of steel off the ground and swung it over packed foundation-ready dirt. Construction workers carefully guided the post using ropes.
The beam was lowered onto a patch of concrete, the exposed top of a rebar-enforced stake that skewers the ground by roughly 80 feet. Within minutes, workers screwed on jumbo-size caps to secure it into place.
Over the coming months, crews will pour 1.08 million cubic feet of cement to lay the site's foundation -- enough to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Boeing broke ground on the Dreamliner project in November. Days later, heavy-equipment operators had all but finished clearing 150 acres of dense forest behind Boeing's two existing Dreamliner fuselage plants.
Next month, workers will begin putting on the roof, and construction activity will peak early next year when the frame is enclosed.
The manufacturing plant will be anchored by two 75-foot-tall office towers on either side. Unlike most industrial spaces, design plans call for a strip of windows to let natural light into the building.
The entire structure has a footprint of 12 football fields. Two 787 Dreamliner jets, each with a wingspan of 197 feet, will be able to fit side by side inside.
Boeing's contractor said crews are working at a furious pace to make up for heavier-than-expected rainfall. Since November, the Charleston area has received a drenching 25.9 inches of rain, which is about 9 inches more than average, according to the National Weather Service.
At one point, construction officials ordered dump trucks to haul off the soaking dirt and bring in dry material.
Overall, 27 million cubic feet of earth have been moved around the site, or enough to fill 69,764 dump trucks.
So far, Boeing officials have spent more than 90 percent of the project's budget using South Carolina-based companies, much of which has gone toward the Greenville-based general contractor, BE&K/Turner Construction.
"That's a considerable number when you consider how specialized this building is," said Luther Cochrane, chief executive officer of BE&K.
He added that some features differ from the airplane assembly buildings at the company's manufacturing headquarters in Everett, Wash. It's going to take, for example, 400 tons of equipment to cool the building.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Boeing's big expansion advances
The Post and Courier
Katy Stech
April 5, 2010
Progress is humming at the Boeing Co. 's 787 Dreamliner assembly site in North Charleston.
Recent permit filings with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control show how the company's construction phases are advancing.
Company officials have applied to build a temporary office building, which will be made up of 40 trailer units that are bolted together. The space will be used by construction officials from general contractor BE&K/Turner Construction and Boeing project managers.
Construction crews also plan to set up a concrete batch plant, which will cut back on cement truck traffic, Boeing Charleston spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, officials have also fixed what they referred to as a "parking crisis" at the company's two existing fuselage plants at Charleston International Airport.
"Due to a significant number of orders placed for (the 787) aircraft, Boeing has increased production virtually overnight, which has fortunately required them to hire a significant number of new employees," a site engineer wrote in a permit application. "With this increase in employees and overlapping of shifts, a short term parking crisis has resulted."
After the permit was approved, the company tripled the number of spaces available to a total of 1,200. Before the new spaces, workers had to park on grassy medians and makeshift spots between buildings when the parking lot filled.
The 787 assembly plant is set to open in mid-2011. The first plane is expected to roll off the production line in the first quarter of 2012.
In-migration
A Seattle construction company that has worked on more than 100 Boeing-related projects has opened a Lowcountry branch.
Schuchart Corporation, a 22-year-old firm, could be a familiar face to Boeing executives among contractors who want to do aerospace work throughout the Lowcountry. The company says it has worked with the aerospace giant on projects including industrial, manufacturing, stand alone buildings and more.
The company is angling to work with Boeing and its future suppliers in Charleston, according to a press release. Chris Burrell, a former development manager for CC&T Real Estate Services, will head the local operation.
Katy Stech
April 5, 2010
Progress is humming at the Boeing Co. 's 787 Dreamliner assembly site in North Charleston.
Recent permit filings with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control show how the company's construction phases are advancing.
Company officials have applied to build a temporary office building, which will be made up of 40 trailer units that are bolted together. The space will be used by construction officials from general contractor BE&K/Turner Construction and Boeing project managers.
Construction crews also plan to set up a concrete batch plant, which will cut back on cement truck traffic, Boeing Charleston spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, officials have also fixed what they referred to as a "parking crisis" at the company's two existing fuselage plants at Charleston International Airport.
"Due to a significant number of orders placed for (the 787) aircraft, Boeing has increased production virtually overnight, which has fortunately required them to hire a significant number of new employees," a site engineer wrote in a permit application. "With this increase in employees and overlapping of shifts, a short term parking crisis has resulted."
After the permit was approved, the company tripled the number of spaces available to a total of 1,200. Before the new spaces, workers had to park on grassy medians and makeshift spots between buildings when the parking lot filled.
The 787 assembly plant is set to open in mid-2011. The first plane is expected to roll off the production line in the first quarter of 2012.
In-migration
A Seattle construction company that has worked on more than 100 Boeing-related projects has opened a Lowcountry branch.
Schuchart Corporation, a 22-year-old firm, could be a familiar face to Boeing executives among contractors who want to do aerospace work throughout the Lowcountry. The company says it has worked with the aerospace giant on projects including industrial, manufacturing, stand alone buildings and more.
The company is angling to work with Boeing and its future suppliers in Charleston, according to a press release. Chris Burrell, a former development manager for CC&T Real Estate Services, will head the local operation.
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