WINNIPEG (CP) — Boeing Canada Technology has opened a new production plant in Winnipeg that will become home to 200 workers and a new parts assembly line.
A company official said the 10,000 square-metres of space in Inkster Industrial Park was needed for assembly of some of the large composite parts the Winnipeg subsidiary has been building for the Chicago company's new 787 Dreamliner.
Boeing's existing parts operation in Murray Industrial Park has been bursting at the seams, ramping up for the more than 700 of the new planes that are on order.
The company has been in the market for additional space in Winnipeg for several months. A company official said it has signed a two-year lease and it is not known if it will require the plant after that.
Boeing Winnipeg is a Tier I, or top level, supplier on the new 787, building landing gear doors, wing-to-body fairings and other parts for the new plane, which will feature more than 50 per cent of its parts built with carbon composites rather than aluminum to decrease the weight and increase fuel efficiency.
The company has been hiring almost non-stop for a couple of years and continues to do so. Terry Trupp, a company spokeswoman, said its Winnipeg workforce is at 1,522 and that about 100 more will likely be hired over the next few months.
That could get its Winnipeg employment levels to a historic high not seen since late in the 1980s.
Vic Gerden, president of the Manitoba Aerospace Association, said the aviation industry has come back strong after 9/11, giving both Boeing and Airbus record sales numbers in 2007. The strong market is expected to continue into 2008.
''The Winnipeg plant had to compete for the 787 work on quality, delivery and pricing,'' Gerden said. ''This plant has elevated its standing in the supply chain by doing the design work on its parts as well as the manufacturing.''
