Boeing has purchased a South Carolina manufacturing facility from one of its key suppliers for $580 million in an effort to consolidate its supply chain and get the company’s long-awaited Dreamliner aircraft off the ground.
The Vought Aircraft plant located in North Charleston becomes the second South Carolina facility that Boeing has purchased in the last fifteen months. In March of last year, the Chicago-based company purchased a Global Aeronautica facility in North Charleston that had been blamed for the botched sub-assembly of the airplane’s fuselage.
The Dreamliner – or “Nightmare Liner” as some have taken to calling it – has suffered from numerous production glitches and delays since it began back in 2004.
Originally scheduled for a September 2007 maiden flight, nearly two years later the aircraft remains grounded due to various technological problems. Additionally, Boeing has been forced to push back delivery of the airplanes based on labor disputes and production issues.
Still, the company is sounding a positive note.
The purchase of the Vought plant “will accelerate productivity and efficiency improvements as we move toward production ramp-up,” a Boeing spokesman said.
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford also trumpeted Boeing’s decision, saying that it was “a testament to the workforce and business climate of South Carolina that a world-class company like this is choosing to expand its presence here.”
South Carolina lost out to Everett, Washington five-and-a-half years ago in the bid for the main Boeing assembly plant, incidentally.
By lou July 8, 2009 at 7:36 am
We want to talk about the Governor and the GOP who spit in the people’s faces FITS!
Can you get a copy of Mark’s schedule for us?
By Toyota Kawaski July 8, 2009 at 10:14 am
Will the buy Woodhead Specialty Cloth next down in the GVW?