Boeing announced plans to realign several of its key operations, allowing the company to make the most effective use of its employees, facilities, technologies and capabilities. The accompanying map provides a state-by-state overview of this latest round of changes designed to reduce costs and put Boeing in a more competitive position to capture future business opportunities.

The announcement will result in employment reductions in California, Missouri and Washington. While the company still is assessing the exact number of employees affected by this announcement, overall Boeing intends to reduce employment by 18,000 to 28,000 people by the end of 1999. Additional employment reductions are expected in the year 2000.

It is the company's policy to reassign affected employees, when possible, to positions elsewhere in Boeing. If other jobs are not available within the company, outplacement services will be provided.

In addition to these realignments, other factors can affect Boeing employment levels. These include new orders, new programs, production rate adjustments to meet the changing needs of customers, and product-improvement initiative implementation.

As a result of the announcement, Boeing plans to vacate 3 million square feet of offices, warehouse and manufacturing space. These reductions come in addition to previously announced plans to vacate 18 million square feet of facilities.

The company continues to study ways to gain synergies from recent mergers, and additional announcements are expected in the future.

No major changes at other sites

Changes announced this week primarily affect specific sites in three states. If the specific site at which you work wasn't included in the announcement, you can expect no significant changes as a result of the new strategic business announcement.

Most Boeing sites are not mentioned because they aren't affected by the latest announcement. These include, but are not limited to, major facilities in Arizona, California (Canoga Park, De Soto and others), Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Texas, Washington (Auburn, Bellevue, Everett, Frederickson, Plant 2, Spokane and others), Canada and Australia.

These sites, however, may have been affected by the earlier announcement and could be affected by future decisions allowing Boeing to make the best use of people, facilities and other resources.

How recent announcements affect employment

When issuing its second quarter earnings, Boeing projected that employment would decrease by 18,000 to 28,000 people by the end of 1999. Additional employment reductions are anticipated in the year 2000. Currently, Boeing employs 238,000 people.

The announcement is in line with those projections. Following is a recap of recent Boeing announcements about anticipated employment reductions:

• In December 1997, Boeing announced that it would reduce employment by 12,000, starting in the second half of 1998. Most of those reductions are expected to occur in commercial airplane operations in Washington state.
• In March 1998, the company announced the first round of facilities consolidations. When combined with phasing out production of the MD-80 and MD-90 jetliners, this move is expected to reduce employment by another 8,200 people by the end of the year 2000.
• In June 1998, Boeing announced that it is phasing out production of the MD-11 jetliner. This decision will affect another 3,750 employees by the time the last airplane is delivered in the year 2000.

• In August 1998, Boeing announced the second round of facilities consolidations. This announcement will result in employment reductions in California, Missouri and Washington. However, the exact number of jobs affected is still being determined.

Earlier facilities announcement available on line

Looking for information about the strategic changes Boeing announced earlier this year? Full details of that March 20 announcement are available online at: http://www.boeing.com/news/ This information is posted on the external web, meaning you can access it through your computer at work or your home computer.