Business Briefly

The public is invited to attend funeral services for Bob Long, a long-time Everett businessman and civic leader. Long died last Friday at age 82. Services start at 11 a.m. Friday at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, 215 Mukilteo Blvd., Everett. In lieu of flowers, memorials are welcome at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2324 Lombard Ave., in Everett or to the Northwest Parkinson’s Foundation, P.O. Box 56, Mercer Island, WA 98040.

Boeing hiring engineers in Wichita

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Boeing Co. is planning to hire hundreds of engineers at its Wichita plant to work on the company’s new 7E7 jetliner and on a Navy program to adapt 737 aircraft for use as reconnaissance planes, according to an internal memo obtained by The Wichita Eagle newspaper. The Wichita plant will hire more than 460 engineers through the end of next year, the memo says. They’ll be hired directly and through contracts with engineering firms, Boeing spokesman Dick Ziegler said. Eighty-five of the new workers will be added by the end of this year, Bob Waner, Boeing vice president for engineering, said in the memo.

In the first sign the U.S. economy is coming out of its recent stall, the manufacturing sector expanded at a respectable rate in July on strong orders and higher production rates. The Institute for Supply Management said Monday its manufacturing index registered 62.0 last month, up from 61.1 in June. It was the 14th consecutive monthly increase and was in line with the consensus forecast of analysts. An index reading above 50 indicates expansion, while one below 50 indicates that manufacturing activity is contracting. The gauge has been above 50 since June of last year.