Boeing

The Boeing Company and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM/AW) District Lodge 751 credit Boeing employees in Spokane with bringing in additional work through a new product offering. Boeing is now supplying customized replacement floor panels for the commercial airplane aftermarket.

Delta Air Lines is the first customer to contract with Boeing. Delta signed an agreement expected to generate a requirement for up to 10,000 replacement floor panels a year. Under the contract, the Spokane plant will supply panels through June 2003 for all aircraft in the Delta fleet.

"Our employees made the gains in efficiency that allowed us to go after this work," said Fred Mitchell, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group executive vice president - Airplane Components, Procurement and Operations. "We want to continue partnering with the IAM as we move forward to identify these types of opportunities."

"This is a watershed moment for the IAM. Through the productivity of our members, this agreement protects our family wage jobs, while providing The Boeing Company with an important new market," said Bill Johnson, President of the International Association of Machinists District Lodge 751.

By increasing productivity, employees in the floor panel shop reduced manufacturing time by 60 percent and manufacturing space by more than 50 percent. As a result of these achievements, manufacturing capacity was increased and new work was brought to the factory.

Boeing expects to attract other large airlines to the program and views the market for replacement floor panels as an area of growth for its business.