Five years ago today, Washington’s aerospace industry, which includes roughly 600 companies, began to speak with one voice.
That’s when the Aerospace Futures Alliance, an industry advocacy group, was formed.
“I think we feel like we
46;ve really delivered for the industry,” said Linda Lanham, director of the Aerospace Futures Alliance.
The group’s member base has grown to about 300 companies. Its board includes representatives from the Boeing Co., Aviation Technical Services and Rockwell Collins. Non-aerospace
representatives include community colleges, hotels and banks. The aerospace group is picking up members at a faster clip than it did previously, Lanham said.
In five years, the industry-based organization has managed to accomplish quite a lot. Most visible was the establishment of the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field in Everett. “I think that’s probably our pride and joy,” Lanham said.
During the 2009 legislative session, the alliance lobbied for increased aerospace training in the state. When the Legislature didn’t find the funds to make a training center happen, the industry group worked with Snohomish County to start one here. Federal and state funding followed.
The training center at Paine Field opened in mid-2010, offering both 11-week certificate programs and short-term, customized training for the area’s aerospace companies. The center has added an online option for its certificate programs. The next round of aerospace manufacturing certificate classes at the center begins Feb. 2.
Earlier this month, Larry Cluphf, director of the center, talked about the success of the center’s graduates in finding aerospace jobs. Out of the 39 students who earned certificates between June and November from the center, 31 had found work in the aerospace industry. And five were in the interviewing process. Graduates typically need about two months to find a job, Cluphf said. Lanham and the aerospace alliance will ask for help this year from the Legislature in starting a student loan program for people interested in getting certificates from the training center.
“The good news is, we’re getting students hired as fast as they get out the door,” Lanham said.
The bad news: Many potential aerospace workers are unemployed or fresh out of high school and can’t afford the $4,800 in tuition at the training center. Boeing recently told the state community colleges that it will need to hire 2,700 trained workers this year.
Aside from the training centers, Aerospace Futures Alliance’s Lanham is proud of tax breaks the group helped secure through the state for aerospace companies here.
Those tax savings have been “a real eye-opener for companies,” she said.
That’s why the group will fight to retain the tax breaks this year as the Legislature looks to make budget cuts. “We’ve heard some lawmakers threaten to repeal (aerospace) tax incentives,” Lanham said.
The aerospace alliance has seen disappointments in the last five years as well. One letdown for Lanham has been the state’s worker’s compensation rates. That will be another priority for the group in the state Legislature this year.
Lanham said her biggest frustration over the past five years has been trying to get aerospace businesses to share their priorities. The industry group is seeking a federal grant to fund a study of the state’s aerospace companies.
She said the study will ask: “What do we really need to do to be a steady but growing industry in Washington?”
Lanham said it would help the state figure out what it needs to do to be able to recruit even more aerospace companies to Washington. And the research should serve as a guide to Washington’s aerospace companies for being successful in a competitive industry.
“Technology is changing so fast,” Lanham said. “Companies need to be educated on what to do to keep up with the pace.
“If you’re not starting to do composites, the Boeing Co. won’t come to you for business,” she said
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