In the week the UK’s Industrial Strategy was announced, Minister
for Defence Procurement met with Boeing
International president Marc Allen today to mark the successes of
a joint initiative to build UK prosperity and growth agreed last
year.
The MOD and Boeing are working together to build UK prosperity,
growth, and exports across the country. As part of their
commitment to the UK, Boeing signed the UK aerospace industry’s
Supply Chain Competitiveness Charter, which is designed to
strengthen relationships between companies and their suppliers,
so that they work together more effectively to raise UK
productivity and competitiveness.
Highlights of the joint initiative so far include:
• A new commercial airline hangar to be constructed at Gatwick
airport, supporting more than 100 jobs
• Collaboration on a new £100m P-8A operational support and
training base at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, creating more than
100 new jobs
• Boeing facilitated a visit to Seattle for 37 UK suppliers to
deepen their relationships with Boeing driving enhanced
prosperity in the UK
• Training courses for UK suppliers on how to win additional
business with the company, further enhancing the competitiveness
of the UK supply chain
• Education partnerships with the Royal Academy of Engineering
and the RAF Air Training Corps in Northern Ireland, which reached
more than 5,000 young people in the UK last year
Minister said:
Britain’s defence industry plays a key role delivering an economy
that works for everyone. Across the UK, Britain’s defence
companies provide highly skilled, well-paid jobs with world class
manufacturing exports.
Boeing expects to increase their UK workforce by 50% by 2020.
This joint initiative is a prime example of the cutting edge,
high-skilled, job-creating investment that our industrial
strategy seeks to harness to make Britain one of the most
competitive places in the world to innovate, build businesses and
deliver secure, long-term prosperity for all.
The government’s Industrial Strategy will seek to make fresh
choices about how the UK shapes its economy and presents an
opportunity to deliver a bold, long term Industrial Strategy that
builds on strengths and prepares for the years ahead. Following a
period of consultation, the government intends to publish an
Industrial Strategy white paper in 2017 that will set out the
plan for full and long term delivery.
Marc Allen, president of Boeing International, said:
Boeing’s partnership with the UK, which dates back to the 1930s,
goes from strength to strength today. Boeing values the UK’s
aerospace and defence capabilities. In both 2015 and 2016 Boeing
in the UK hired, on average, a new employee per day and our
relationship with the UK supply chain today has more than doubled
in value since 2011.
This growth continues in 2017 and beyond, with further
significant announcements to follow in the future, building on
our initiative’s achievements already in place.
There is much more to come from the strategic prosperity
initiative. During their meeting Minister and Marc Allen looked
ahead to the next six months of collaboration:
• Boeing will increase bid opportunities for UK suppliers and
work with the government to enhance UK competitiveness. The aim
is for UK companies to double their supply work with Boeing and
win higher proportions of content on future Boeing aircraft.
• Boeing will make the UK its European base for training,
maintenance, repair and overhaul across its defence fixed-wing
and rotary platforms.
• Boeing will make the UK a base for defence exports to Europe
and the Middle East, increasing UK employment and investment.
