The Boeing Company (BA) has announced plans to open a new manufacturing facility at the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah.
The company said that this facility, Boeing’s first manufacturing venture in Illinois, will use the existing building at the MidAmerica airport to manufacture components for the company’s St. Louis-based defense business.
This facility located close to the Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) headquarters (based in St. Louis), has an established, skilled work force and the required infrastructure to meet the high-value, low-cost needs of the company’s customers. This makes the MidAmerica Airport, located 25 miles southeast of St. Louis, an ideal site for expanding Boeing’s core business.
Boeing plans to open the MidAmerica facility to work on its defense programs by late 2010 or early 2011.
Initially this facility is expected to create about 75 jobs in the state of Illinois, with the potential for further increase going forward. Boeing Defense, Space & Security currently employs roughly 16,000 people in the in St. Louis area, making F/A-18 and F-15 fighters and C-17 transport planes, as well as weapons.
The government officials in Illinois stated that Boeing’s investment in Southwestern Illinois is expected to bring the much-needed boost to the entire local economy.
Boeing Defense, Space & Security, a unit of The Boeing Company, is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.
Headquartered in Chicago, The Boeing Company is a premier jet aircraft manufacturer and one of the largest defense contractors in the U.S. The company designs and produces commercial airplanes (787, 737, 747, 767, 777), defense systems and civil and defense space systems.
The company’s customers include domestic and foreign airlines, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Homeland Security, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other aerospace prime contractors and certain U.S. government and commercial communications customers.
The stock has a Zacks #3 Rank (short-term Hold recommendation). We also reiterate our long-term Neutral rating.
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