Boeing update Saturday, November 29, 2003 The Boeing deal has split the site selectors into two camps. The first group sees the site selection process as a way to extract concessions from Washington State. (A stratagem that worked.) The second group believes that the process is legitimate, and that Boeing will likely locate production where costs are lower. (In my view, the first group has it right: Boeing has excess production facilities in Everett, an established labor pool, stable supplier relationships, and a huge concession package from the State. The labor content in the final 7E7 is likely to be relatively small, since final assembly will be from component parts. Labor cost differentials will not matter much. Nor will other business costs, which comprise a small fraction of total costs. Boeing is trying to become the Dell Computers of commercial aircraft. With the 7E7, it is developing a new low-cost, process manufacturing model. This challenge is already formidable. Successful implementation of "Six Sigma" will matter more to Boeing than relative business climates. Further, the design headquarters for the plane will be in Washington. Say what you will about "virtual" corporations and CAD/CAM: face-to-face collaboration between design engineers and and production engineers on the shop floor still matters. Speed also favors Everett. This project carries enough risk as it is. Why should Boeing increase the project risk with a greenfield assembly operation?) Read more. Meanwhile, Boeing officials continue to roll out details of how the 7E7 will be built. Read more. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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