Bet on Boeing

Transformational. That’s what South Carolina leaders are calling Boeing Co.’s decision to build its 787 Dreamliner jet plant near the Charleston airport.

The aviation giant’s announcement in fall 2009 marked the state’s largest economic development in South Carolina history — an opportunity that could stabilize the economy and help replace some of the manufacturing jobs lost over the years as companies switched to less labor-intensive techniques or took their operations overseas.

Boeing’s new jet-assembly plant, a massive structure with a footprint of 12 football fields, will need nearly 4,000 workers to keep it running, easily making it the region’s largest private employer when it opens in summer 2011. Already, two Boeing plants piece together bits of fuselage at the North Charleston site — a task that takes 3,000 workers.

It’s still unclear how many companies will follow Boeing to Charleston to help put together the Dreamliner jets. Economic leaders are comparing it to BMW’s Upstate manufacturing plant, which spun off an automotive cluster that employs an estimated 7,000 workers and has attracted dozens of supplier companies.

And with more than 850 Dreamliners on order, the production offers a long-term stability that other types of manufacturing haven’t been able to provide.

Boeing’s Dreamliner operation also has the potential to open up Charleston to the world. Not only will workers complete Dreamliner jets in North Charleston, airline representatives from around the world will come to the site to pick up their jet purchase. And because many airlines are supported by foreign government, their dignitaries may come along for the pick-up too.

The jet handovers, formally called deliveries, sometimes involve fanfare and could boost the region’s profile. The region’s first delivery is expected to take place in early 2012, when Air India officials are expected to pick up one of their planes.

Boeing has always delivered jets in Seattle. But once the North Charleston plant is complete, the site will become only the third in the world where wide-body jets are handed over. (Boeing rival Airbus delivers planes in Toulouse, France.)

Aerospace engineers from around the world also could come to the site to check on their handiwork. The Dreamliner’s supply chain has, for example, landing gear from the United Kingdom, cargo doors from Sweden and wing tips from Korea.

The Charleston region has already gotten a glimpse of that as Italian engineers fly over to check on their fuselage work. A barista at the Starbucks Coffee nearest the Boeing plant once told me the shop has a loyal customer base of Italian-tongued clientele who “chug espresso like it’s water.”

To be fair, Charleston has always shown an international flair that, in past centuries, came from its port. f

How to land a job at Boeing

Just because you don’t have an exhaustive resume in chemical sealants and composite drill techniques doesn’t disqualify you from working on Boeing’s airplanes.

Boeing executives were admittedly nervous about building their plant in South Carolina, which lacks the longstanding aerospace skills that distinctly market Washington state’s workforce. So state officials agreed to pay $33 million for a program that will train future Boeing workers.

The training takes place at Trident Technical College’s Rivers Avenue campus in North Charleston.

Training program administrators screen applicants through sctechjobs.com, a website that local major manufacturers sometimes use to post jobs.

Boeing also posts jobs at its own website — boeing.com/careers — and the company also relies on a handful of outside hiring agencies to find workers. One such agency, CTS International, has opened a local office at 4130 Faber Place Drive in North Charleston.