What Boeing is doing in most of those buildings (and there are plenty) is assembling the aircraft. Boeing out-sources a lot of the manufacturing including wing and tail sections (from Canada as well as other Countries), landing gear, engines, avionics, interior equipment etc.
A few decades ago many of Boeing's customers, particularly state owned ones, tied their purchases to offsets, or were offered offsets as inducements following the military purchasing strategies of the time. Hence, Boeing has an international sourcing structure, which strengthens their market position, depth of supply and provides a positive contribution to global trade.
Boeing also made a conscientious decision in the early 70's to decentralize their operations so that communities like Seattle would not be so devastated by massive layoffs (which it had just experienced) in a down-turned market.
My 2 cents for what its worth.
Regards,
JBS |
