Boeing 7E7 Production Line Location

[Guest]

Hey gang,I just saw a news release from Boeing dated Friday the 16th stating that the company is accepting proposals from states for consideration as the location of the final assembly plant for the new 7E7. www.boeing.com/news/releases If you follow the links to the 7E7 page and then click on "What's New," you can even view the criteria the company is looking for in a location.All of this intrigues me. Boeing, betting the near future of its mid-range production on this new 7E7, decides to invest hundreds of millions of dollars on a new plant for this new plane. That part doesn't surprise me too much, I guess, as they might need more space.The first thing that popped into my mind, though, was, "What about Long Beach?" Think about it: ---You have facilities already in place, with a workforce who already knows how to make airplanes. ---The facilities at LGB can handle large airplane manufacturing, since it was pretty much the only place Douglas commerical airplanes were made. ---Boeing currently produces a plane there that they can't give away (I personally love Douglas products, by the way--nothing against the 717).So here's what plan formed in my mind: ---Produce the 7E7 at Long Beach. ---As much as I hate to say it, shelve the 717, unless by some miracle you can drum up some real business for it.It would seem that putting the production at Long Beach would keep the unions happy by keeping some jobs at LGB, while significantly reducing the capital outlay by Boeing for the physical plant. I've always wondered why Boeing continued the 717 project when they already have a very similar plane in the 737-600. The 7E7 seems to me, at least, like it would have a greater market potential, and less intra-company overlap, than the 717.And maybe there are some reasons why this plane couldn't be produced at LGB. I know that Boeing has already sold some of the MDD real estate there, so maybe there's not enough room left.But anyways...what are some of your thoughts on this? Please, don't start a flame war on what you think of the 7E7 as a viable means of transportation (or the 717, for that matter)--that's not what I'm after. What I'm after is a discussion of Boeing's site selection for production of the 7E7.I'm interested to see what you guys think...

[Guest]

The C-17