Spirit Looks To Continue Its Growth
Wichita, Kansas - The past five years have been busy for Spirit AeroSystems.
"It's been a whirlwind," said Buck Buchanan, Spirit's chief operating officer.
Boeing sold its long-standing Wichita commercial aircraft division to Onex Corp. on June 17, 2005.
"We were a brand-new company with about 75 years of experience," Buchanan said.
Spirit had to establish a sales and marketing department and move from a Boeing cost center to a company with a profit-and-loss statement, Buchanan said.
"What was new to us was the business piece," he said.
At the time of the divestiture, Spirit employed about 7,600 people in Wichita. It now employs 10,300 in Wichita and 14,000 worldwide.
The company acknowledged the five-year milestone Thursday and will hold an open house for employees in the fall.
In the past five years, Spirit has acquired a plant in Prestwick, Scotland, and added one in Malaysia. It's opening a new plant next month in North Carolina and is building one in France.
The company has won business from Sikorsky, Gulfstream, Rolls Royce, Mitsubishi, Airbus and Bombardier.
One of its main goals is to digest the new work it's taken on, Buchanan said.
It also will bid on other new business, he said.
New programs help employees feel confident, said Brent Allen, who builds 777 strut and nacelles and serves as vice president of the Machinists union Local Lodge 839.
"You get used to seeing things with the Boeing stamp on it," Allen said. But when "we see more names on things we actually touch, that tells us we're growing. It gives you a real sense of security."
A main goal moving forward is to keep the company healthy and the team intact, Buchanan said.
"A healthy business takes a great team, and a great team takes a healthy business."