Boeing selected its Everett, Wash., site as the location for a new composite wing center for the 777X program.
The new composite wing center will be located north of the Everett factory and will sustain thousands of Puget Sound area jobs.
“Locating the new composite wing center in Everett is a win for all of our teammates and partners,” Ray Conner, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO, said. “This will put our workforce on the cutting edge of composite technology and allow us to build on the infrastructure and logistics system we have in Everett. This decision will strengthen the company’s competitiveness and help it grow for the long-term.”
Boeing selected the Everett site for 777X final assembly following the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751 approval of an eight-year contract extension earlier in 2014. As part of the contract extension, the company agreed to fabricate the parts for, and assemble, the 777X composite wings in the Puget Sound region.
“This marks the first step in a bricks and mortar commitment by Boeing to build a facility that will be home to the jobs and technology of tomorrow – not in a foreign country or a distant state, but right here in the Pacific Northwest,” IAM President Tom Buffenbarger said.
The new facility will support fabrication of the 777X composite wings and will be approximately 1 million square feet (92,903 square meters). Construction on the new facility is scheduled to begin later this year.
Assembly of the composite wings will also take place at the company’s Everett site, with the exact location to be determined in the months ahead.
First delivery of the 777X is targeted for 2020.
“Today we gain certainty that Washington will remain the global leader in aerospace for decades to come,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said. “Thanks to this tremendous investment by Boeing, we know that thousands of talented Washington workers will soon be fabricating the most technologically-advanced carbon fiber structure ever developed and the world’s next great commercial airplane, the 777X. The work at this plant also launches Washington into the forefront of advanced composites manufacturing – an industry with exciting growth potential beyond aerospace.”