Mulally hints more work could go to Alenia/Vought
Published 9:00 pm Monday, July 18, 2005
OK, here’s one I wrote in advance so I could post it from Boeing’s Connexion demonstration airplane as we zip over the Cascade Mountains to Walla Walla. Today’s Boeing’s Big Aerial Blogfest and if I’m clicking on the right link, these words should fly from my aisle/window seat through Wi-Fi-in-the-sky hot spot in the back of the plane, through a dedicated antenna and down to a ground-based satellite system, which connects to the World Wide Web, so I can access the Heraldnet’s Cold Fusion software to let you know that indeed, Connexion works as advertised.
And you’re saying, like, so what? I don’t blame you. From what I can tell, text typed on a computer at 18,000 feet off the ground looks JUST LIKE text typed on a computer in The Herald’s office on the shore of Port Gardner Bay. So, enough ooing and ahing about the technology and on with the content …
Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Alan Mulally was back in Charleston, S.C., on Monday for a sort-of ground-breaking ceremony for the new Vought-Alenia plant. (I say “sort-of” because while the ceremony was clearly of the groundbreaking type, the companies, who are building fuselage parts for Boeing’s 787 there, already had broken ground at the site a couple months ago.)
The most-interesting thing Mulally had to say was that the Vought-Alenia plant could end up winning work on future Boeing airplanes.
Key Quote, from the Associated Press: “If the Vought and Alenia plant can demonstrate its ability to improve productivity, handle more orders and keep costs low, ‘they’ll have more and more work over there,’ (Mulally) said.”
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050719/APN/507190893&cachetime=3&template=dateline
The State newspaper in Charleston quoted Mulally saying much the same thing. The Vought-Alenia plant will be a pioneer in aerospace composite manufacturing, and as a result: “Over time, I think you’ll attract more and more of the detail work to shorten the lead time.”
The State’s Jim DuPlessis did a profile on Mulally, noting that he’s getting a lot of the credit for Boeing’s big turnaround in the past six months.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/business/12165697.htm
Alright … time to tune in to what the REAL bloggers are saying and doing on this demonstration flight. Whatever it is, that’s what I’m writing my column this week. Look for it in Wednesday’s Herald.
