Aircraft parts plant set for takeoff

South Carolina’s first major aircraft parts factory opens Thursday, well on track to create 775 jobs — about 175 more than estimated when the project was announced 18 months ago.

The Vought-Alenia complex in North Charleston will assemble fuselages for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, a midsize passenger jet. And there are hopes for expansion because of better-than-projected Dreamliner orders, an Alenia official said.

Vought Aircraft Industries will open its assembly plant in a ceremony to be attended by Gov. Mark Sanford and Vought chief executive Elmer Doty. Vought expects to hire 375 workers, about 25 more than first planned.

Those parts will move next door for more assembly at the Global Aeronautica plant, which is a joint venture of Dallas-based Vought and Alenia Aeronautica, based in Rome.

The Global Aeronautica building is nearly completed, said Ben Stone, spokesman for Alenia’s North American subsidiary. Equipment is expected to be installed by the end of summer, and production will begin by about January 2007. Employment is expected to reach 350, about 150 more than forecast.

“It’s already growing tremendously because Boeing is looking at doubling its production rate,” Stone said. “That will have a direct impact on the number of people hired at Global Aeronautica.”

The $560 million investment is the largest announced during Sanford’s administration, and among the biggest since the state landed a BMW plant in 1992.

The aviation complex is opening at the same time manufacturing jobs are declining in South Carolina. The aviation jobs are expected to pay $40,000 to $50,000 per year, compared with the state’s average wage of about $30,000.

“These are high-skilled jobs,” said Jack Ellenberg, director of global business development for the S.C. Commerce Department.

But Ellenberg said the plant is also important for South Carolina because it represents the state’s first major aircraft-related factory and one that will be a pioneer in the use of carbon-fiber composites. Those high-strength, low-weight materials will account for more than half the weight of the 787, largely replacing aluminum and steel in the plane’s body.

“What they’re making in Charleston is a cutting-edge, new technology,” Ellenberg said. “That they’re making that product in South Carolina with South Carolinians is a major statement to the industry.”

When plans for the plant were announced in December 2004, Vought planned to employ 350 people by early 2007, while Global Aeronautica would employ about 200 people. An additional 50 were expected to be employed at the site by Boeing, which would slide each assembled fuselage inside a specially fitted cargo jet to be flown to Boeing’s final assembly plant in Everett, Wash.

Better-than-expected sales of Boeing’s 787 might mean a need for more workers in Charleston. In late 2004, Boeing had little more than 50 orders for the 787.

Boeing now has 350 firm 787 orders, plus 43 commitments from customers who are not ready to announce their orders or made down payments. That’s up from 291 firm orders Dec. 31.

Boeing plans to deliver its first Dreamliner in 2008. Customers ordering now cannot be guaranteed delivery until 2012.

Spokeswoman Lori Gunter said Boeing’s flow of orders has been strong enough to ask its suppliers what it would take — in additional employees and investment — to increase production.

“When the biggest challenge is how can you build more because your customers want them, you’re in a good place,” Gunter said. “It’s a great challenge to have.”

Boeing expects to complete its study about ramping up production by the end of August; any boost in production would occur after 2010. The company needs to weigh the costs of raising production capacity against the number of years the additional capacity would be needed, Gunter said.

“You don’t want to ramp up for a short period if it can’t be sustained,” Gunter said. “If there’s not a good business case behind it, we just can’t do it.”

An early hope of expanding the Charleston facilities rested on landing a second assembly line to make military aircraft.

EADS, the European aircraft manufacturer that owns a majority stake in Airbus, considered the North Charleston site to build a new refueling jet for the Air Force. Instead, in June 2005, it chose a site near Mobile, Ala.

Hopes for a second military contract were dashed this spring when a group of companies, including Alenia, eliminated the site for a possible plant to assemble a new cargo plane for the Army and Air Force.

“We don’t win everything we go after,” said Rose Dangerfield, spokeswoman for the S.C. Commerce Department. “They looked at a number of different factors, and we weren’t the best match for that.”

But Dreamliner sales and military contracts aren’t the only route to expansion.

Alan R. Mulally, president of Boeing’s commercial aircraft unit, told an audience in Charleston in July that if Vought and Alenia are successful making the Dreamliner body in North Charleston, the companies can expect to be strong contenders to make parts for whatever plane Boeing designs to replace its short- to medium-range 737-series passenger jets in a decade or so.

Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305.