South Carolina Boeing workers face a learning curve

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — For James Morgan, the process of landing a job building jets for the Boeing Co. was a lengthy one.

Morgan had applied to work at Boeing’s Charleston site about a year ago. A father of two, Morgan’s main reason for wanting to work for Boeing: company benefits, like health care and a 401(k).

And the Charleston resident thinks his new job will be well worth his efforts.

Morgan is not alone in trying to land a job at Boeing in South Carolina. Last December, 3,500 people responded to an advertisement following Boeing’s decision to locate a second 787 assembly line in North Charleston. The Chicago-based Boeing also has taken over the North Charleston factories of former suppliers Vought and Global Aeronautica.

The hiring process in South Carolina resembles the steps that machinists in the Puget Sound area take. There’s a screening exam followed by a 32-hour, unpaid training segment. If a person successfully makes it through, he or she may be hired at Boeing, but is in store for more training before setting foot inside the factory.

Much of the coordination for the early steps is done for Boeing by readySC, a government-funded entity that streamlines technical training for major industries in South Carolina. The group set up a training center at Trident Technical College in 2005 to meet the demands of Boeing’s 787 partners, Vought and Global Aeronautica.

But training changed dramatically last year after Boeing took over operations in South Carolina, said Jim Maxon of readySC. The company gave readySC access to its training materials and processes. Previously, the program’s dropout rate hovered around 20 percent, Maxon said. Today, that figure is below 5 percent. Maxon credits the decision to add an initial screening for the decline in dropouts.

Jeff Stone, who leads Boeing’s training efforts in South Carolina, believes the hands-on experience that candidates receive in those initial 32 hours also cuts dropouts. Without it, some people would end up at the factory unaware that their jobs weren’t like those in an auto factory.

The training is conducted at the Trident Technical Center, where the room mimics an aircraft shop floor.

“They get to see what it’s going to be like,” Stone said.

The next phase, which Stone describes as boot camp, can last anywhere from six to 24 weeks, during which time the workers are Boeing employees. Morgan was on his ninth week of training when The Herald visited South Carolina in late September.

In production boot camp, workers learn to do things like run wiring or install fasteners, working first on a set panel and later on an actual 787 fuselage barrel.

Once in the factory, workers receive specific training tailored to the jobs they’ve been assigned. And training continues as job processes change, Stone said. To be able to perform certain tasks, like applying specific sealants, workers have to be recertified annually and receive additional training, he said.

“Boeing brought with it (to South Carolina) years worth of training experience,” Stone said.

At Boeing’s Everett location, potential machinists also go through a pre-employment assessment and weeks of unpaid training at the Employment Research Center near Paine Field. Additional training takes place and then continues in the massive factory.

Stone credits South Carolina and its readySC program for being able to respond quickly to Boeing’s needs. ReadySC “adds a capability that we don’t have there in Washington or St. Louis,” Stone said.

ReadySC’s Maxon estimates that 90 percent of Boeing job candidates are from the greater Charleston area. However, Stone notes that Boeing isn’t focused on getting workers from a particular region as much as the company is focused on finding qualified help.

At least half the candidates coming in are unemployed; many are in their 30s or younger, Maxon said.

Stone, who used to work for Boeing in the Puget Sound area, notes a cultural difference between Washington and South Carolina.

“We don’t have the aerospace heritage to lean on” in Charleston, he said. But that “gives us the opportunity to do things differently.”

For Morgan, he’s happy to be a part of a new aerospace tradition. His youngest son wants to work on airplanes when he grows up; his eldest wants to be an engineer.

“It was wonderful” to be hired by Boeing, Morgan said.