SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Boeing’s South Carolina plant isn’t meeting company goals
Jul 11, 2013, 6:52 PM | Updated: Jul 12, 2013, 4:31 pm
Boeing employees work on an aft fuselage for the 787 Dreamliner inside the North Charleston, South Carolina facility. (AP photo)
(AP photo)
Boeing’s Dreamliner final assembly factory in North Charleston isn’t getting the job done as planned.
Earlier this year the company forecast a production rate of three 787s per month from the South Carolina plant.
They’re only turning out 1.5 Dreamliners per month and will not be able to double the pace this year.
The site director told a reporter for The Post and Courier they wouldn’t be able to meet Boeing’s production goal until the first quarter of next year.
“It’ll take a little bit to get fully to three there,” Willy Geary told the newspaper. Geary is second in command at Boeing South Carolina. Jack Jones is the general manager there.
Fuselage sections for the 787 are made in North Charleston. Boeing selected the site for a second final assembly line for the Dreamliner.
The South Carolina 787 location employs almost 7,000. The company is also creating an engineering center there.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is still trying to gain support to unionize the South Carolina plant.
South Carolina is a right-to-work state, which Gov. Nikki Haley noted in a 2012 Republican National Convention speech when she criticized “union bullying bosses.”
“I know what our game plan is, which is to take care of our people so they wouldn’t have a desire to look towards a union,” Geary said.
“So, the union’s free to do what they want. They’re always going to be after us. We just got to be vigilant about taking care of our people.”
By LINDA THOMAS
