Boeing To Lay Off 800 Commercial Jet Workers: WSJ

March 22, 2013, 5:27 p.m. ET

By JON OSTROWER
The Wall Street Journal

Boeing Co. Bsaid on Friday it would lay off 800 commercial jet workers this year at factories in the Seattle area that modify already-built 787 Dreamliners and 747-8 jumbo jets for customers.

The company will through transfers and attrition reduce its overall workforce in the Puget Sound region by between 2,000 and 2,300 this year, Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.

The layoffs are unrelated to the recent grounding of the 787 Dreamliner, said Mr. Birtel.

Boeing said it employed 86,198 people at Seattle-area factories at the end of February. It still plans to hire between 8,000 and 10,000 companywide in 2013. With planned reductions in its commercial and defense businesses, Boeing's employment will be flat or slightly down at year's end.

The 787 and 747-8 struggled through years of delays during their development, and Boeing brought in extra teams of engineers and machinists to complete the jetliners for delivery, updating each with new parts and incorporating design changes discovered during testing and certification.

The amount of extra work required on 787s has fallen significantly as sections of the jet are arriving at its final assembly lines complete, even with the package of changes to the jet's lithium-ion batteries outlined by Boeing an effort to put the plane back into the air after its grounding by regulators on Jan. 16.

"With 787 and 747 development efforts completing and disruption substantially decreasing, we require fewer resources," said Mr. Birtel. "We will assess employment needs continuously and may need to hire in some areas to ensure we maintain critical skills. We continue to explore all options to lessen the use of layoffs."

Boeing is increasing production of the 787 from five jets a month today and plans to double output by the end of 2013. The Chicago-based plane maker builds two 747 jumbo jets each month at its Everett, Wash., jet factory and splits 787 production between Washington state and North Charleston, S.C.

Mr. Birtel said 500 employees have already been reassigned since the beginning of 2013. Of the 50 787s handed over to operators since September 2011, 33 have required modification. Boeing has said its first 56 production 787s will require some level of post-assembly changes before delivery. In February, Boeing confirmed it was laying-off contractors at its South Carolina factory. A person familiar with the reduction plan says Boeing would reduce some teams by 20% at the nearly 6,800 person facility.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com