Just found out yesterday that Boeing is consolidating all Dreamliner assembly to the South Carolina plant from Everett.
Now I know why the price of my house on Zillow went down over 14% overnight last week… Bummer.
Really?
SoCa is where the costly production errors happened.
Another thought… Very little effort is required to complete the final assembly of a 787. Bolt 3 tubes together, rig the controls, connect the wire harnesses (already in just disconnected at the break lines), hang the engines, then roll it out for paint.
All the magic happens in the sub-assembly plants. About 100:1 ratio of labour hours are invested in the sub-assemblies rather than the final assembly.
Politically, ever since Phil Condit was the CEO, the direction of the management has been to leave Washington. Started with the Headquarters moving to Chicago. Then South Carolina and a new assembly plant. Now this. The writing has been on the wall for years. The Exodus will continue until Boeing is completely gone from the state sometime in the future. The local economy and our Governor need to plan for this eventuality. No tax incentives will continue to keep them here. Boeing has never liked the local Engineering union and has tried to destroy it for years.
Locally, in the Everett area, well over 3000 jobs will be lost between final assembly and production. There are still some suppliers in Washington. This has a very negative impact on the local economy. Happened back in the early 70’s too with “Will the last person leaving Seattle turn the lights out?” if you remember.
Oh boy.
That may have implications for me in the future.
Some WA people who leave Boeing looking for a cushy place to retire choose to cross the border to Canada. Not many, but enough to matter in the smaller Canadian job market. The province of BC is the beneficiary of many ex-Boeing people and this could increase if your prediction is right.
I’ve never really considered moving to BC for better work and prospects myself, but I haven’t seen all my prospects in Alberta dry up… yet…
Closing the factory at Everett could increase the competition for jobs at a time they are becoming scarce, throughout the region.
Announced last week that Dreamliner final assembly line in Everett is being shut down in mid January and being consolidated to North Carolina.
Isn’t it North Charleston, South Carolina?
Correct. My bad.