Training and management have changed since takeover

Published 4:35 pm Wednesday, October 20, 2010

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — The changes are both subtle and obvious.

Operations have been different since the Boeing Co. took over the 787 factories in North Charleston from suppliers Vought and Global Aeronautica.

On the obvious side since the transition, “there has been significant improvement in assembly of the mid-body section,” said Tim Coyle, vice president of Boeing South Carolina.

The advances are due in part to a higher level of training for employees, he said. Newly hired employees are getting more intensive training at Trident Technical College before entering the factories, where they receive even more hands-on instruction than previously, Coyle said. And Boeing’s Puget Sound operations also have lent about 200 workers to South Carolina to get things in order.

In a more subtle manner, Boeing also is implementing a management strategy in South Carolina that emphasizes employee involvement and responsibility. The company dictates what needs to be done; the employees determine how to accomplish the goal, Coyle said.

By pushing employees to own their work, Coyle said, Boeing has seen an improvement in quality.

“In prior years, defects would float down the line,” he said. Now, the problem stays in the area where it started or was first discovered.

For South Carolina workers like Sal Pellegrino II, Boeing’s management style is a welcome switch. Pellegrino began working for Vought in April 2006, as the then-787 supplier learned to fabricate aft fuselage sections for Boeing.

“It’s like a culture change,” Pellegrino said. “Employees now have more of a voice in the business.”

Pellegrino belongs to one of the employee involvement teams — teams Coyle eventually wants to be responsible for presenting daily progress updates to managers on the 787 in South Carolina.

Boeing has brought to South Carolina the best practices from its other locations, Coyle said.

Boeing’s Coyle has structural changes planned for the former Global Aeronautica factory, where workers join the aft fuselage section from across the way and sections from Italy and Japan.

On the shop floor, which is every bit as clean as those in hospitals, Coyle points out a 3D model of the line changes planned for the factory. South Carolina workers have helped in the design, which eliminates some of the larger tooling that surrounds 787 sections. In fact, Mukilteo’s Electroimpact will provide automated drilling equipment that will make production process less clunky, Coyle said.

“We’re trying to decide if we should move the line here or pulse it,” Coyle said.

The site has 12 airplanes in flow. Today, there are two assembly lines with the capability of four, which could be needed as Boeing ramps up production on its 787 both in South Carolina and in Everett.

“Boeing’s recognized as a leader in aerospace,” Coyle said. “Now, North Charleston is going to be known as a hub.”