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Let's go on a journey through history. (a thread) Earlier this week, @theaircurrent published a news analysis on Boeing's decision to consolidate 787 production to South Carolina. https://bit.ly/3lkx4B0
I started my career as a journalist in 2007 trying to understand what was going on inside of Boeing and two factories in South Carolina owned by Vought Aircraft Industries and Alenia Aeronautica (now Leonardo) that built and assembled parts of the 787. https://bit.ly/36Qpnyb
In December of that same year, with delays on the program mounting, Boeing realized that it would have to start to take control of those facilities to right the program. https://bit.ly/2Ie1o1U
Boeing bought Vought's half of Global Aeronautica, which was a 50-50 JV with Leonardo, in March 2008 giving the company its first direct presence in South Carolina. https://bit.ly/34KK7VL
In the second half of 2008 as delays were mounting on the 787 program, it was clear that Boeing was likely headed for a strike by the machinists in Puget Sound. At issue was the amount of outsourcing on the 787 to suppliers.
The 787 was still struggling and by early September 2008, in the moments before the clear onset of the global financial crisis, the IAM voted to strike. https://bit.ly/34I7HCs https://bit.ly/3nx7ieB
The strike coalesced a long-held view among Boeing leadership, that they were in a "hostage situation" (from a presentation to the board) with their workforce. At that moment, the struggles with Boeing's ability to ramp up 787 production met their zero-sum approach to labor.
It was rough with labor well before that 2008 strike. Boeing had wanted to only be an airplane company that ran final assembly, outsourced suppliers would ship sections of the airplane and Boeing would assemble and deliver them. https://bit.ly/2SDAK4x
Boeing would have to tell the suppliers a rate for their assembly lines and the suppliers would handle everything. Boeing would buy, rather than make, major airplane sections. It went very badly and the expertise for new airplanes was inherently inside Boeing, not the suppliers.
By mid-2009, the 787 was years behind schedule and a short list for a second assembly line (to match Everett) and meet the demand for the airplane was being built principally around its labor relations. https://bit.ly/3dfCSZE
Referring to the 08 strike, former Boeing exec & acting SecDef Pat Shanahan told me in June 09 the 2nd 787 line centers on "how do you secure assurance of delivery? And I think that's been a discussion topic around some of the disruption we've realized." https://bit.ly/3dfCSZE
The plan to be disconnected from suppliers had fallen apart and at the same time, Boeing was moving to buy out Vought's 787 operations in SC completely. https://bit.ly/2m3QCe1
I wrote in July 2009: "The divestment of Vought's 787 operations may mark the precursor for a fundamental realignment of Boeing's commercial assembly strategy if it proceeds with placing a second 787 line in Charleston." https://bit.ly/2m3QCe1
It was. https://bit.ly/2GOvN6j
For the remainder of 2009, everything spiraled toward a 2nd line decision that would give SC a 787 assembly line. Project Gemini was unfolding with the SC legislature approving an incentive package without naming Boeing as its beneficiary. https://bit.ly/3jN3SC2
There were late talks with the IAM to secure a no-strike deal, but those talks fell through. South Carolina would get the second 787 line and Boeing would shift its assembly strategy (against its original goal) of being close to sub-assembly suppliers. https://bit.ly/3jN3SC2
Boeing was headed for record 787 production of 10 per month. Two or three of those were going to be in Charleston to start, but there was -- even in 2009 -- a sense from those in Everett that South Carolina would eventually be the sole home of the 787.
By the time the 737 Max was launched in 2011, the IAM was taking Boeing to the NLRB for claims of illegal retaliation for the 2008 strike. The suit was dropped later that year when Boeing and the IAM reached a new deal that would keep the Max in Renton. https://bit.ly/3dpVO8h
I joined WSJ in spring of 2012 and one of my first reporting assignments was the opening of the SC line. The enormity of the site, bigger than the Everett 787 line, suggested longer term ambitions. https://on.wsj.com/34F82FX
In fact, in 2013, Boeing laid out to the Corps of Engineers a multi-phase expansion of its presence in North Charleston that strongly implied it would have all of the 787 program under one roof. https://bit.ly/2PfqPAl
The clearest sign of Charleston's role came with the 787-10. Boeing had launched the double-stretch 787 in 2013 and the longer fuselage meant a logistical juggle. In the end, the dimensions meant the -10 midbody (assembled in SC) couldn't fly to Everett. https://on.wsj.com/30S7XNZ
After an appetite to outsource, the lessons of the 787 pushed them again toward co-locating section assembly with final assembly. For the 777X, the wings would be next door to final assembly. In Dec 2013, Boeing held a bake-off for tax breaks to land 777X. https://on.wsj.com/3lsxBAM
This came after the IAM rejected a Boeing proposal the month before for an eight-year contract. Labor relations were just as sour as they'd ever been. https://on.wsj.com/30NojYo
Amid the 2013/2014 bake-off -- which before HQ2, was an enormous frenzy by states jockeying for Boeing work -- the IAM went back to the table. The negotiations revealed a huge rift between the IAM's local and International leadership. https://on.wsj.com/36QC5gn
In the end the machinists narrowly voted for the contract, placing the 777X and its enormous carbon fiber wing in Everett. Co-location was now core to Boeing's manufacturing strategy. https://on.wsj.com/36PWHFC
So now 777X is rooted in Everett, 737 Max in Renton and 787-10 in South Carolina. The trend had been clear. And with the now-defunct NMA approaching, space was likely needed in Everett to begin work on that airplane in the early 2020s had it materialized.
787 was on its way to the East coast. Leaders in WA state were told 787 was leaving eventually. And instead of NMA, we got COVID and the outcome was exactly the same. https://bit.ly/2Xh2NtW
Even before COVID hit, however, Boeing was scaling back on 787 production from 14 to 10 a month. But rather than split evenly, SC would get seven and WA would get three. https://bit.ly/2Xh2NtW
In August, it was clear that the 787 would end up exclusively in South Carolina. All the history to now had pointed in that direction. Everything from the previous 12 years had been groundwork. https://bit.ly/2PfqPAl
