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Home / Washington Business - January/February 2004 / Boeing 7E7 Announcement is Emotional Lift for State’s Sluggish Economy |
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Boeing 7E7 Announcement is Emotional Lift for State’s Sluggish Economy |
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Written On: January/February 2004 |
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Written By: By Charles Henry Thomas |
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Boeing’s announcement that its new high-tech, fuel efficient 7E7 will be built in Everett is the emotional lift our state’s economy needed since 9-11, AWB President Don Brunell said.
Brunell, a member of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Board of Directors, said Washington has lost one in six manufacturing jobs since July 2000. U.S. Labor Dept. figures show that our state lost the highest percentage (17.6%) of manufacturing jobs in the nation during that period.
“That’s almost 60,000 manufacturing jobs and many of those jobs were lost at Boeing and among its suppliers,” Brunell said.
The announcement that Boeing planned to build the 7E7 was good news for American manufacturing, but assembling it at Paine Field is a huge psychological victory for Washington.
The 7E7 will be the most fuel efficient wide body in the world. Boeing plans to build 3,500 7E7s beginning in 2008 worth an estimated $400 billion, according to Mike Blair, 7E7 program manager.
The new aircraft can fly non-stop from New York to Tokyo (8,000 nautical miles) while saving about 20 percent on fuel. It has more overhead storage capacity and wider, more comfortable seats. It is the first new passenger plane Boeing rolled out since the 777 in the early 1990s and will be constructed out of new light weight composite materials rather than aluminum.
Focus on Competitiveness Made Difference
No doubt the focus on improving our state’s competitiveness made a huge difference in Boeing’s decision. AWB, the Washington Roundtable and Washington Research Council initiated the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy (WashACE) four years ago. That led Gov. Locke to form his competitiveness council, economic development commission, and the Priorities of Government and Price of Government (POG).
“If Gov. Locke and our legislators had not stepped up and dealt with issues like reforming unemployment insurance and balancing the state budget without new taxes and fees, the 7E7 would be built somewhere else,” Brunell said.
Along with Gov. Locke, the Legislature and agency directors like Martha Choe (Dept. of Community, Trade and Economic Development); local government officials approached the 7E7 with a new attitude.
When Boeing announced plans to build the 777 facilities in Everett in the 1980s, local government officials socked them with over $60 million in impact fees. They wrongly thought that Boeing had no other options to build its airplanes. That caused Boeing to wonder if Washington was business-friendly.
“Not this go around,” Brunell said. “Landing the 7E7 was a team effort between the Boeing machinist and engineer unions; federal, state and local government officials; and employer organizations led by AWB.” Brunell was a member of the “Action Washington Team” which Locke assembled to win the project.
“One of the most important advantages we had on the Action Washington Team is we wanted the 7E7, took nothing for granted and made sure Boeing knew it was not only welcome, but needed,” Brunell added.
Keeping Washington Competitive is Key for Future Projects
During the Governor’s press conference, AWB member Judy Runstad, an attorney at Foster Pepper Shefelman and co-chair of the Governor’s Competitiveness Council, told the cheering audience that while much was accomplished in 2003 to make our state more competitive, lots of work remains.
Brunell said overhauling the state’s workers’ comp system, streamlining state and local government permitting, inspections and rules, and maintaining budget discipline while providing greater resources for higher education are next.
“We cannot sit back and feel our mission is accomplished,” Brunell said. Work on the 7E7 will not begin to ramp up until 2006 with the first plane rolling off the assembly line in 2008. “Lots of things can happened between now and 2006 so we need to continue to make our state more cost effective for employers to keep the 7E7 on track and for other employers.”
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