Boeing to send more 737 MAX, 777X work to South Carolina plant

By Harriet McLeod
The Boeing logo is seen at their headquarters in Chicago, April 24, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Young

By Harriet McLeod

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Boeing Co <BA.N> will send more work to a new aircraft component plant in South Carolina than it had previously announced, company executives said on Wednesday, as the planemaker seeks to reduce labor costs.

Boeing chose the new Propulsion South Carolina plant because of the state's "business-friendly" environment, said Beverly Wyse, the newly named vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina.

Union representatives have been trying to organize the South Carolina plant and the planemaker has been fighting back with websites and other frequent direct communication to employees.

Besides manufacturing an engine covering that reduces drag for the new 737 MAX, the new plant will design engine parts for the 777X, the newest commercial airplane in Boeing's fleet.

Those 777X engine parts are the engine nacelle fan cowl, a sort of muffler for the jet fan, and the engine nacelle, Boeing executives said. They will be built by Spirit AeroSystems, which also builds the 737's fuselage, said Nicole Piasecki, vice president and general manager of Boeing Propulsion Systems

Boeing will begin production on the 737 MAX by the end of this year, fly the plane in 2016 and deliver it in 2017, Piasecki said.

Boeing has received 2,663 orders for the new plane.

The 225,000-square-foot automated South Carolina plant will put 50 to 80 workers on the line working with 15-16 large robots that will assemble the engine parts, plant manager Charlie Hix said. A prototype of the 15-foot-tall robot waved to an audience at the plant opening.

The robots are made in Germany and Kuka Systems North America Llc in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is providing the "overall system including end effectors and associated programming," Boeing South Carolina spokesman Timothy Deaton said.

"They're basically advanced manufacturing off-the-shelf robots and then you set them up to do specific tasks," added Dan Ivanis, a Boeing Propulsion Systems spokesman.

Executives declined to say how many workers the propulsion plant could employ. Boeing South Carolina has more than 7,500 employees, according to a spokesman.

Jack Jones, outgoing vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina, said the company's increased communication with employees was in response to union efforts.

(Editing by Joe White and Matthew Lewis)