Boeing executives meet with minority business leaders

The Post and Courier's
Boeing Special Section.

Decision-makers from Boeing Co. wrapped up a two-day trip to the Charleston area to fill their contact lists with local businesses, possible suppliers and future construction workers who could help build the 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in North Charleston.

In this economic recession, the level of interest was mutual.

Tuesday's information session at the Charleston Area Convention Center drew nearly 3,000 construction industry workers, while Boeing executives spoke Wednesday in North Charleston to about 80 business leaders at the Carolinas Minority Supplier Development Council.

The visit was another step Boeing is taking in an effort to incorporate itself into the local business community. And many company leaders and workers left hopeful that they could one day work with the Chicago-based aviation giant, which farms out up to 70 percent of its business and buys everything from rocket engines to pencils.

"We are certain that there's existing companies that have the capabilities, the requirements and qualifications to be good Boeing suppliers, and it's our job to seek out those suppliers and help them get integrated into the procurement process," said Joan Robinson-Berry, the company's director of strategic work placement, supplier management and integrated defense systems.

State Sen. Robert Ford, a Charleston Democrat who is running for governor, has urged state legislators who were involved in recruiting Boeing to do all they could to make sure South Carolina minorities have a fair shot at the jobs and contracting opportunities the aeronautics giant will create. He made similar points in an Oct. 30 letter sent to Boeing Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney.

"This is a whole lot of tax dollars, and a whole lot of black people pay a whole lot of tax dollars," Ford said at the time, referring to the $450 million incentive package that helped lure the 787 plant to North Charleston. "I am sure Boeing is a fair company, but we don't want to wait until the last minute to find out."

Boeing officials wouldn't provide a breakdown of its employee makeup at its existing North Charleston factory, where it makes fuselage sections for the 787. But Robinson-Berry said the company has a history of working with historically disadvantaged businesses and workers.

Robinson-Berry said she's sure Ford is "a wonderful individual, but this isn't something that Boeing has to start doing. It's in our DNA."

Boeing's fuselage plant already works with roughly 175 Charleston area suppliers, said Janice Greene, senior manager of supplier diversity for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. About 35 of those are minority-owned, women-owned or classified as small businesses.

Overall, Boeing spends $5 billion each year with small and historically disadvantaged businesses. Greene added that while the company prefers working with those types of companies, they are held to the same standards as all of its other vendors.

"It's not about fairness, it's not about a good corporate image," she said. "It's a matter of good corporate business because we know minority and small businesses are more flexible, and they're more innovative, and they perform."

Robinson-Berry took note, for example, during Wednesday's meeting when entrepreneur Jimmie Herndon introduced himself as a company president who runs a 28-worker textile facility outside Charlotte. His business makes a fabric that workers integrate into new roads to make them last longer.

"That's a (business) we would probably look at," she said.

As for its North Charleston expansion, Boeing said it is seeking companies that provide business services it needs, such as janitorial work, information technology support and office supplies.

"We will be painfully honest if your commodity doesn't align with what we buy," Robinson-Berry told attendees at Wednesday's meeting.