Took off out of Taipei today and saw the Dream Lifter 747 cargo A/C (you know, the one outfitted to ferry the 787 fuselage around) at the EVA Air maintenance hangars, if there is an airplane that you can say carry Boeing's reputation every time it flies it's probably the Dream Lifter, this airplane's maintenance is being outsource to Taiwan?? OK, now this outsourcing trend has gotten officially ridiculous

 

The Dreamlifters are operated by Evergreen which is based in TPE. One of the pilots is active on this forum, maybe he'll chime in to clarify.

Also, as for outsourcing, I believe most of the jet's manufacturing is outsourced - all the parts & pieces meet in Everett for assembly (and that just got outsourced to South Carolina).

 

Both Boeing and Airbus have to specialize and outsource to maintain a competitive advantage. Both firms use over 15,000 suppliers.

 

I think TPE is where they convert them from regular -400's to the flying hot dog bun.

 

Boeing is creating an additional plant under it's own name with it's own employees.

S.C. Gov: Boeing 787 Plant Should Spur Growth Across State - WSJ.com

 

There are two companies called Evergreen. The Dreamlifter is operated by Evergreen International Airlines (EIA); company headquarters are McMinnville Oregon, but the 747s were based in JFK (when I flew for them).

The 'other' Evergreen is EVA, based in TPE; a Taiwanese company. They are a huge shipping conglomerate as well.

When I flew for EIA, a lot of their heavy maintenance was done in Hong Kong.

While Boeing is 'building' a new 787 line in Charleston, it is being done at the expense of the experienced workforce they have in Seattle.

A gain for South Carolina is a loss for Washington....the result of the same thinking on all outsourcing. "Its good for my company," meaning BOD and shareholders, but screws the workers. These now unemployed folk no longer have money to spend on other companies' products, so those companies, in-turn, outsource as well. A mad dash to the stone-age.

 

The Dreamlifter itself is the iconic symbol of outsourcing. First, Boeing outsourced the modification of the B-747's to a foreign company rather than do it in their own mod center in Wichita, then they outsourced the flying to Evergreen to fly them between their many manufacturing contractors around the globe before they finally bring the big pieces back to the USA for final assembly. Boeing is rewriting the management books on outsourcing.

 

Even the BCF's were done under license in China.

 

I`m not following you on this one. The Seattle employees shoulder much of the blame for this one. The strike cost the company (read: shareholders) Billions. The move to South Carolina is an attempt to wring every dollar of cost out of the building process. Same for outsourcing. I don`t like it either, but we live in a world where the bottom line rules.

 

You've also got to throw in the incentives; cheaper taxes, pizza parties, casual fridays (ok, the first one) that the local SC governments threw in that WA state would once again not budge on. Remember when BA said they would move the headquarters out of Seattle to Chicago unless they got less local taxes and better incentives? Well, they're eating some fine pizza in Chicago now.