EVERETT – Government, private industry and labor banded together in 2003 in the successful effort to convince Boeing to assemble the 787 in Everett.
Now it’s time for a similar effort to attract the suppliers who will help Boeing build its next new airplane, the county’s top economic development official said.
“It’s not just Boeing,” Snohomish County Economic Development Council president Deborah Knutson asked. “What does the whole aerospace sector need?”
When Boeing announced it would build its new airplane in Everett, local officials thought that the new Boeing jobs it would bring would be the start of an economic bonanza.
“We all kind of had some expectations,” Knutson said, “that as soon as Boeing made that decision, all the suppliers were going to flock here.”
But so far, those suppliers have been staying away in droves. Only one company – Messier Buggatti – has announced plans to expand here to handle its 787 work. A few more local companies – including PCSI Design of Everett – have landed 787 contracts as second- or third-tier suppliers.
A big reason, Knutson said, is simple uncertainty. Companies are using new technology to build new products in new ways. Given that, most are reluctant to throw new buildings and a new work force into that mix. Most are planning to build 787 parts, for now, in their home factories and ship them to Everett.
The development council is continuing to court suppliers who believe that it “makes more sense to be next door or across the street from the Boeing assembly plant,” Knutson said.
But those companies are pointing out obstacles to doing business here, she said. Wages around Puget Sound are higher than many other areas, and many states – even nations – can dangle cash incentives that Washington’s state constitution bans.
The development council is pushing for a state and regional task force to tackle the question of “what else do we need?” to lure the suppliers who will work for Boeing now and in the future, Knutson said. “How do we keep the granddaughter of the 787?”
Reporter Bryan Corliss:
425-339-3454 or
corliss@heraldnet.com.
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