Published December 2003

Boeing to keep 7E7 design team in Everett

By Eric Fetters
Herald Business Writer

While the Boeing Co. is still deciding where to assemble the new 7E7 Dreamliner, it has named Everett as the headquarters for the program.

That means the engineering and design work for the plane will continue be based at the company’s huge complex in southwest Everett.

The decision to keep the design team there was a natural, said Mike Bair, a senior vice president for Boeing Commercial Airplanes who is leading the 7E7 program.

“We’ve done the design and integration of all our 7-series wide-bodies in Everett, and we want to continue on that path,” he said.

Bair refused to speculate on how many people will be employed as part of the 7E7 development and design team. Previously, Boeing officials have said they may need only half the engineers it took for the 777 program a decade ago.

“It’s in the thousands, not the hundreds, so it will be a significant work force,” Bair said, adding he couldn’t say whether Boeing would add more engineers.

The Everett site already has about 3,700 engineers and more than 2,000 technical workers for the company’s various commercial airplane programs, according to statistics from Boeing and the engineers’ union.

The union expressed mixed reaction to the Nov. 20 announcement.

“Getting the public confirmation that the design headquarters will be in Everett is good news. But we’d like to hear more good news from Boeing,” said Bill Dugovich, a spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

For example, Boeing’s decision to outsource its wing design and construction work for the 7E7 to Japan is discouraging, as the company has always prided itself on building its own wings, Dugovich said.

He also called it “troubling” that suppliers will do their own detailed design work on the sections they build. That work also had previously been done by Boeing’s engineers and technical workers, he said.

Local leaders, however, uniformly hailed Boeing’s decision to keep the program headquarters and design center in Everett. Deborah Knutson, president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, said she was “gratified” by the news.

Everett’s new mayor, Ray Stephanson, said in a prepared statement that he is happy the well-paying engineering jobs will stay.

“Boeing is our partner, and we work hard to make them as competitive as possible,” Stephanson said. “This is great news for everyone, particularly for our Boeing engineers who live in our community.”

Gov. Gary Locke and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray also added their praise for Boeing’s decision. Murray, D-Wash., said that by choosing Everett for the program’s headquarters, “Boeing has made an important statement about the future of the program in our state.”

Bair, however, cautioned that the decision doesn’t have any bearing on the still-awaited announcement on where the assembly of the 7E7 will take place. Boeing is expected to make that decision by the end of the year.

Because large sections of the airplane will be built by outside suppliers, it’s not critical that all the engineers be located near the final assembly site, Bair said.

That’s a change from Boeing’s earlier jetliner programs, noted T.M. Sell, a Highline Community College professor and longtime Boeing watcher. He said the company trumpeted the advantages of having the designers and assemblers in the same place for the 777 program.

Even with teleconferencing and other communication links, Sell said, distance between the engineers and assemblers can be a barrier.

“But I still think they’ll build it somewhere else,” said Sell, who added that Boeing wants to send a message to Puget Sound workers and the region’s leaders.

Making sure that doesn’t happen is still the focus of joint efforts between local and state leaders, as well as the unions.

“We’re hopeful. The state of Washington has an excellent proposal on the table,” said Paul Roberts, the city of Everett’s planning director.

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