Source: SC Future [www.scfuture.org].
The Boeing Company will add $6.1 billion to South Carolina’s annual economy, according to a new economic analysis.
Over the first 30 years of operation (the length of time for the state’s infrastructure bond issue), the study estimates that Boeing will generate almost $2.76 billion in state tax revenues, far outpacing the cost of incentives.
The analysis was prepared by Dr. Harry Miley, a Columbia-based economist who was chief economic adviser for Gov. Carroll Campbell.
The study was commissioned by The Alliance for South Carolina’s Future, a nonprofit organization in Columbia dedicated to the state’s economic growth.
The manufacturing facility will have a $5.9 billion annual impact to the Charleston region, including more than 15,000 jobs that will be created as a result of the company’s impact. That number includes the 3,800 announced jobs that Boeing will create, along with thousands of spinoff jobs in other sectors of the economy.
“These impacts will begin to occur immediately once the facility is operational and will continue for the entire life of the facility,” according to the study.
The construction phase of the project is expected to have a major short-term impact as well with almost 9,900 direct and spinoff jobs, and a $1.4 billion impact to the region.
Construction activity will generate an estimated $246 million in direct labor income. When multiplied throughout the region in indirect and induced impacts, the total increase in labor income is estimated to be more than $413 million.
“The Alliance for South Carolina’s Future commissioned this study to put the Boeing project in historical perspective,” said Ed McMullen, co-founder of the Alliance. “We also wanted to quantify the effect Boeing will have on our state. By every measure, the effect is profound.”
Other findings in the study:
· The announced capital investment for Boeing ($1.025 billion) nearly equals all of the private capital investment made in South Carolina in 2003 ($1.128 billion).
· Boeing’s capital investment per job ($268,816) more than doubles the statewide average in 2003 and is significantly above the average in South Carolina since then. The capital investment per job is a good indicator of whether a new facility will help support local governments.
· If Boeing’s investment in South Carolina grows at a similar rate as that of BMW over the next 17 years, the company would employ 9,500 people and have a $10 billion capital investment.
· South Carolina must compete for jobs and new investment with incentive packages in part because the state’s property taxes on industrial property are too high. One study ranks South Carolina highest in the nation, putting the state at a significant disadvantage.
To view the complete study, please click here.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Union objects to potty numbers
By Katy Stech
The Post and Courier
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Reason No. 2, perhaps, that those 787 Dreamliners are so far behind schedule: long bathroom breaks at the North Charleston plants where workers piece together portions of the fuselages.
Employment has surged to more than 3,000 workers at the company's local campus as Boeing seeks to ramp up production of its hot-selling new jet. But male employees have complained that they are forced to share only a handful of bathrooms within the two existing industrial buildings.
The situation recently caught the attention of a union that represents some of the workers from the Puget Sound area in Washington who have been temporarily assigned to the Lowcountry plants.
Tom McCarty, president of Seattle-based Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace's Local 2001, and other labor officials traveled here last month to discuss the local working conditions with their roughly 100 union members at Boeing Charleston.
The male workers spoke of lines that, at times, snake out of the restroom areas.
"Sometimes, there's a waiting line, and the waiting line isn't insignificant," McCarty said.
Female employees reportedly have not faced a similar problem, likely because fewer women work at the plant, he said.
McCarty said he requested a meeting with local Boeing officials, who initially agreed, but pushed back the sessions to a point where the groups never were able to get together.
Boeing Charleston spokeswoman Candy Eslinger would not disclose the number of bathrooms on site, saying only that the facilities met local building code requirements. She said the company added two modular restrooms outside the plants last year.
McCarty, a 37-year Boeing employee, said he's never come across this situation in one of the company's buildings before.
He said it reflects the glitches that have pushed back the first 787 delivery by nearly two years.
Production problems at the airplane's worldwide network of vendors -- Reason No. 1 for the delays -- have forced Boeing to take more control of its far-flung supply chain.
McCarty said management "has been in got-to-make-it-work mode, and that's evident at the Charleston facility. They're scrambling."
The Post and Courier
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Reason No. 2, perhaps, that those 787 Dreamliners are so far behind schedule: long bathroom breaks at the North Charleston plants where workers piece together portions of the fuselages.
Employment has surged to more than 3,000 workers at the company's local campus as Boeing seeks to ramp up production of its hot-selling new jet. But male employees have complained that they are forced to share only a handful of bathrooms within the two existing industrial buildings.
The situation recently caught the attention of a union that represents some of the workers from the Puget Sound area in Washington who have been temporarily assigned to the Lowcountry plants.
Tom McCarty, president of Seattle-based Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace's Local 2001, and other labor officials traveled here last month to discuss the local working conditions with their roughly 100 union members at Boeing Charleston.
The male workers spoke of lines that, at times, snake out of the restroom areas.
"Sometimes, there's a waiting line, and the waiting line isn't insignificant," McCarty said.
Female employees reportedly have not faced a similar problem, likely because fewer women work at the plant, he said.
McCarty said he requested a meeting with local Boeing officials, who initially agreed, but pushed back the sessions to a point where the groups never were able to get together.
Boeing Charleston spokeswoman Candy Eslinger would not disclose the number of bathrooms on site, saying only that the facilities met local building code requirements. She said the company added two modular restrooms outside the plants last year.
McCarty, a 37-year Boeing employee, said he's never come across this situation in one of the company's buildings before.
He said it reflects the glitches that have pushed back the first 787 delivery by nearly two years.
Production problems at the airplane's worldwide network of vendors -- Reason No. 1 for the delays -- have forced Boeing to take more control of its far-flung supply chain.
McCarty said management "has been in got-to-make-it-work mode, and that's evident at the Charleston facility. They're scrambling."
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Boeing 787 design features a bit more headroom
By Katy Stech
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
There's a team of Boeing Co. professionals who are paid to study the dreaded elements of travel.
The fight, for example, to claim overhead bin space. The feeling of claustrophobia some passengers feel while strapped inside an airborne metal tube. That harsh slap of light at the end of the flight when attendants flip the switch so travelers can gather their belongings.
While Boeing can't do much about flight delays and strict security measures, executive Kent Craver said it has done its best to ensure "the onboard experience" for a 787 Dreamliner jet appeases even the pickiest travelers.
"We found that people love to fly; they just don't love to fly today," said Craver, Boeing's regional director of passenger revenue analysis.
The company provided the media and local officials a peek at a portion of a mocked-up 787 passenger cabin Monday at its North Charleston campus. The half-arc display was set up in one of Boeing's two existing fuselage plants, where a plastic-covered piece of fuselage section sat yards away, delivered fresh from a supplier in Grottaglie, Italy.
While many passengers board an airplane without giving much thought to the interior, Craver said he's confident the 787 has been designed in a way that passengers will notice.
"We do that with a sense of space," he said while inside the display's blue-lit interior.
The company's research showed that passengers are more conscious of the amount of space above their head than at their sides, so architects designed the 787 ceilings to seem taller than they actually are, Craver said. Also, the windows on the Dreamliner are 65 percent bigger than the ones installed in a 777 jet, adding to the spacious effect.
And instead of those plastic, roll-up window shades, each window has a dimmer button that tints the window to several different settings.
Lights throughout the plane are programmed to 14 different settings, which could help passengers on long flights adjust to the time of day.
The overhead bins can accommodate larger pieces of luggage. And engineers even tinkered with settings, such as cabin pressure and humidity, to ensure a more pleasurable flying experience.
The attention to detail has a bottom-line component to it. Craver pointed out that some seasoned frequent fliers and business travelers pick flights based on the aircraft model, so a well-designed plane could fill up faster.
"It increases demand with business-class passengers," he said.
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
There's a team of Boeing Co. professionals who are paid to study the dreaded elements of travel.
The fight, for example, to claim overhead bin space. The feeling of claustrophobia some passengers feel while strapped inside an airborne metal tube. That harsh slap of light at the end of the flight when attendants flip the switch so travelers can gather their belongings.
While Boeing can't do much about flight delays and strict security measures, executive Kent Craver said it has done its best to ensure "the onboard experience" for a 787 Dreamliner jet appeases even the pickiest travelers.
"We found that people love to fly; they just don't love to fly today," said Craver, Boeing's regional director of passenger revenue analysis.
The company provided the media and local officials a peek at a portion of a mocked-up 787 passenger cabin Monday at its North Charleston campus. The half-arc display was set up in one of Boeing's two existing fuselage plants, where a plastic-covered piece of fuselage section sat yards away, delivered fresh from a supplier in Grottaglie, Italy.
While many passengers board an airplane without giving much thought to the interior, Craver said he's confident the 787 has been designed in a way that passengers will notice.
"We do that with a sense of space," he said while inside the display's blue-lit interior.
The company's research showed that passengers are more conscious of the amount of space above their head than at their sides, so architects designed the 787 ceilings to seem taller than they actually are, Craver said. Also, the windows on the Dreamliner are 65 percent bigger than the ones installed in a 777 jet, adding to the spacious effect.
And instead of those plastic, roll-up window shades, each window has a dimmer button that tints the window to several different settings.
Lights throughout the plane are programmed to 14 different settings, which could help passengers on long flights adjust to the time of day.
The overhead bins can accommodate larger pieces of luggage. And engineers even tinkered with settings, such as cabin pressure and humidity, to ensure a more pleasurable flying experience.
The attention to detail has a bottom-line component to it. Craver pointed out that some seasoned frequent fliers and business travelers pick flights based on the aircraft model, so a well-designed plane could fill up faster.
"It increases demand with business-class passengers," he said.
Interior-fixtures factory to bring 150 Boeing jobs
By Katy Stech
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Boeing Co. plans to build a jet interior-fixtures plant, creating another 150 jobs on top of the thousands that will come when the company opens its 787 Dreamliner assembly plant next year.
The manufacturing facility, which company officials want to locate within 20 minutes of their North Charleston campus at the Charleston airport, will help workers outfit the inside of the passenger jets quickly, said Raymond Conner, a Boeing executive who oversees supply-chain management for the company's commercial division.
The Boeing Fabrication Interiors South Carolina facility will make airplane parts such as overhead stow bins, closets and partitions between flight classes.
Boeing already employs more than 1,300 workers at a similar plant at its Everett, Wash., manufacturing headquarters, but company executives said earlier this year that they want to duplicate its critical jet manufacturing operations in Charleston in case of West Coast work stoppages. A strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in 2008 cost the company an estimated $1.8 billion.
"We wanted to create some independence," Conner said.
The plant will open in early 2012, around the time that the North Charleston plant is scheduled to finish its first passenger jet.
Executives haven't picked a location for the plant, setting the stage for a potential bidding war among Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties. Each county has the power to grant economic incentives, such as tax breaks on a new building or on the manufacturing equipment inside.
"I'm sure incentives will come into play," said Charleston County economic development director Steve Dykes, who's responsible for recruiting businesses to the county.
Already, local and state officials used an incentives package worth more than $1 billion, according to a Post and Courier analysis, to land Boeing's second final-assembly line. That $750 million investment is expected to generate more than 3,800 jobs.
Gov. Mark Sanford, a critic of economic incentives, spoke at Monday's announcement meeting. Asked whether it was fair for adjacent counties to compete against each other for jobs and investment, Sanford emphasized that the state didn't offer any incentives to Boeing for this expansion.
"Counties are going to do what counties are going to do," he said.
The interior-fixture facility will hire workers who have gone through the existing training program set up for Boeing, which is paid for with state money.
Company officials hope to solidify a site for the estimated 250,000-square-foot building this summer.
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Boeing Co. plans to build a jet interior-fixtures plant, creating another 150 jobs on top of the thousands that will come when the company opens its 787 Dreamliner assembly plant next year.
The manufacturing facility, which company officials want to locate within 20 minutes of their North Charleston campus at the Charleston airport, will help workers outfit the inside of the passenger jets quickly, said Raymond Conner, a Boeing executive who oversees supply-chain management for the company's commercial division.
The Boeing Fabrication Interiors South Carolina facility will make airplane parts such as overhead stow bins, closets and partitions between flight classes.
Boeing already employs more than 1,300 workers at a similar plant at its Everett, Wash., manufacturing headquarters, but company executives said earlier this year that they want to duplicate its critical jet manufacturing operations in Charleston in case of West Coast work stoppages. A strike by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in 2008 cost the company an estimated $1.8 billion.
"We wanted to create some independence," Conner said.
The plant will open in early 2012, around the time that the North Charleston plant is scheduled to finish its first passenger jet.
Executives haven't picked a location for the plant, setting the stage for a potential bidding war among Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties. Each county has the power to grant economic incentives, such as tax breaks on a new building or on the manufacturing equipment inside.
"I'm sure incentives will come into play," said Charleston County economic development director Steve Dykes, who's responsible for recruiting businesses to the county.
Already, local and state officials used an incentives package worth more than $1 billion, according to a Post and Courier analysis, to land Boeing's second final-assembly line. That $750 million investment is expected to generate more than 3,800 jobs.
Gov. Mark Sanford, a critic of economic incentives, spoke at Monday's announcement meeting. Asked whether it was fair for adjacent counties to compete against each other for jobs and investment, Sanford emphasized that the state didn't offer any incentives to Boeing for this expansion.
"Counties are going to do what counties are going to do," he said.
The interior-fixture facility will hire workers who have gone through the existing training program set up for Boeing, which is paid for with state money.
Company officials hope to solidify a site for the estimated 250,000-square-foot building this summer.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Boeing to locate 787 interior parts factory in Lowcountry
Staff report
Monday, May 3, 2010
Boeing Co. today said it plans to hire 150 additional workers to make interior fixtures for the 787 jets that will be assembled in North Charleston.
The new venture will be located within 20 minutes of the company's existing manufacturing campus at Charleston International Airport, said Ray Conner, vice president and general manager for Boeing Commercial's supply chain management and operations.
The exact site has not been determined. A location is expected to be announced this summer. The interior parts factory will open in early 2012, just as the first locally made 787s start rolling off the assembly line.
The expansion is part of the company's plan to replicate all of its critical manufacturing operations for the new jetliner in South Carolina. Boeing executives have said that will enable the company to continue producing the airplane if the existing 787 assembly line in Everett, Wash., shuts down because of a strike or other reasons.
Boeing is building a $750 million, 3,800-worker production plant for its 787 Dreamliner jet at Charleston International, where it already makes major fuselage sections for its new passenger plane.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Boeing Co. today said it plans to hire 150 additional workers to make interior fixtures for the 787 jets that will be assembled in North Charleston.
The new venture will be located within 20 minutes of the company's existing manufacturing campus at Charleston International Airport, said Ray Conner, vice president and general manager for Boeing Commercial's supply chain management and operations.
The exact site has not been determined. A location is expected to be announced this summer. The interior parts factory will open in early 2012, just as the first locally made 787s start rolling off the assembly line.
The expansion is part of the company's plan to replicate all of its critical manufacturing operations for the new jetliner in South Carolina. Boeing executives have said that will enable the company to continue producing the airplane if the existing 787 assembly line in Everett, Wash., shuts down because of a strike or other reasons.
Boeing is building a $750 million, 3,800-worker production plant for its 787 Dreamliner jet at Charleston International, where it already makes major fuselage sections for its new passenger plane.
Boeing Plant Progress
Click here to see the latest photos of the work at the new Boeing facility.
(BE&K - Turner Joint Venture: Boeing 787 Plant, Charleston, SC. http://evshd.netfirms.com/bek01/flash.htm)
(BE&K - Turner Joint Venture: Boeing 787 Plant, Charleston, SC. http://evshd.netfirms.com/bek01/flash.htm)
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