Boeing tops out new interiors center

Charleston Regional Business Journal
Matt Tomsic
March 28, 2011

Boeing officials marked a milestone in the company’s South Carolina operations Friday as construction workers hoisted a final, white steel beam and its colorful signatures onto the Interiors Responsibility Center in North Charleston.

Lane Ballard, the center’s director, and others addressed construction workers and Boeing personnel during the ceremony. He asked everyone gathered to sign the beam before it was placed onto the building.

“We’re excited to be here in the Palmetto State,” Ballard said, acknowledging a local twist to the topping-out ceremony.

For good luck, workers usually put a cypress tree on-site while placing the last beam onto a building. Ballard told the audience they replaced the cypress with a palmetto tree, which will eventually be planted at the facility.

The center will produce interior parts for the 787 Dreamliner, including stowbins, closets, partitions, class dividers and sleeping quarters for pilots and flight attendants. About 10 miles away is the Boeing South Carolina site, which will perform final assembly of the 787s.

The center will allow Boeing to produce 787 interiors near its final assembly plant instead of shipping the interiors from Everett, Wash., the other site that performs final assembly and manufactures interior parts of the planes, said Ray Conner, vice president and general manager of supply chain management and operations.

Conner said having both facilities within miles of each other will streamline company operations and increase efficiency.

“It’s all tied to everything we’re doing here,” Conner said. “This is going to be the topper.”

The facility is about 300,000 square feet and is expected to be finished during the fourth quarter of this year.

Ballard said the center is a little less than half finished. Workers still need to finalize the building and install the equipment needed for its operations.

About 150 employees will work there to deliver three 787 interiors a month before increasing production to five interiors. It will make its first delivery in the second quarter of 2012.

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