Cluster of firms gives the city an edge

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, December 30, 2006

EVERETT – Only two factories in the world produce wide-bodied jets. And the largest one – owned by the Boeing Co. – is right here in Everett.

Does that make Everett the leading aerospace community?

Former Everett factory manager Ed Renouard would say so.

“Everett has been on the edge of all of these technological breakthroughs,” Renouard said.

Many of those breakthroughs, he said, originate at the Boeing Co. However, many in Snohomish County will argue, the burgeoning cluster of aerospace-related businesses contribute greatly to Everett’s industry edge. And community leaders seem bent on keeping Everett there.

Besides offering tax incentives to Boeing suppliers to keep aerospace companies in the region, local officials have also intensified their efforts at bolstering training programs for aerospace-related jobs. And the county essentially proclaimed the region’s importance in the industry in 2005 when the Future of Flight Museum opened.

In January 2006, the Aerospace Futures Alliance of Washington held its first meeting.

Despite the industry’s long history in Washington, aerospace companies didn’t have an organized outlet to make their collective needs known, said Bob Drewel, executive director of Puget Sound Regional Council. The alliance works as a liaison between business and government, community and educators.

To sustain the region’s spot at the top of the industry, aerospace-related companies need a trained work force, which is something community colleges in the region have long tried to produce.

When Drewel was the president of Everett Community College in the 1970s, about 15 percent of the college’s programs were aerospace-related. Not only have the college’s aerospace offerings grown, but Everett Community College, and others in the area, has learned to adapt quickly its training programs according to the needs of the industry.

In November, the alliance sponsored its first aerospace job fair at Everett Community College. In 2007, lobbyists for the alliance will have their work cut out for them in Olympia, advocating further tax incentives for aerospace-related businesses.

As 2006 comes to a close, the county’s aviation museum, the Future of Flight Aviation Center, celebrated its first year in business.

Boeing’s factory tour has long been the greatest draw for tourists to the county, paring up with the Future of Flight in December 2005.

Although the center hasn’t drawn the number of visitors initially projected, the Future of Flight has exceeded expectations as a special event and meeting destination, attracting visitors from around the world.

For Drewel, Everett and the state of Washington need to be vigilant in order to preserve their position as the leading aerospace center well into the future.

“If we’re successful, we will be head and shoulders above any place in the world,” he said.