WASHINGTON — Boeing plans to consolidate its defense and space business by 2020, a move that entails closing several sites and eliminating 500 jobs over the four-year period, the company said Tuesday.
The aerospace firm put a positive spin on the announcement, citing job growth for facilities in St. Louis, Los Angeles County and Huntsville, Alabama. However, Boeing will shutter its plants in El Paso, Texas, and Newington, Virginia.
"In order to push ourselves farther and win more business, we need to make the most of our resources and talent," Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing's defense, space and security business, said in a statement. "These steps will help us be a stronger partner for our customers worldwide."
Boeing plans to shed about 4.5 million square feet of excess infrastructure during the four-year consolidation process, it said in a news release. About 1,600 jobs — many from Huntington Beach, California — will move to Boeing facilities in El Segundo, Long Beach and Seal Beach in Southern California. The company's St. Louis sites will pick up 500 workers and Huntsville with grow by 400 positions, with many of those jobs coming from Huntington Beach.
Some positions currently in Kent, Washington, will also transfer to the Tukwila facility located 20 minutes down the road in the same state.
The company estimates a potential job loss of about 500 employees as a result of the consolidation, said spokesman Kenneth Smith, but some of those workers may be able to transfer to other positions within Boeing. The company has not yet determined which programs will be relocated to Huntsville, St. Louis or the Southern California facilities.
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group, said Boeing's consolidation effort was unexpected, but not a big surprise considering the firm's emphasis on lowering its operating expenses.
"They've been taking steps to rationalize their far-flung BDS presence for years, most notably when they pulled out of Wichita," he said in an email. "Of all the defense primes, Boeing is the one most focused on cost reductions."
Valerie Insinna is Defense News' air warfare reporter. She previously worked the Navy/congressional beats for Defense Daily, which followed almost three years as a staff writer for National Defense Magazine. Prior to that, she worked as an editorial assistant for the Tokyo Shimbun’s Washington bureau.
