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| S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
The 2000s
F L Y I N G H I G H
and parts in South Carolina and shipping those to Everett,
Washington, to be assembled into the Dreamliner, the 787. For
us to get Boeing to build this assembly plant for that 787 in
South Carolina is phenomenal. Think about it. This is the first
time a commercial composite passenger airplane has ever been
built in the history of the world, and it is going to be built in two
places: Everett, Washington and Charleston, South Carolina.
The only thing I can think of that would compare to that in
South Carolina would be BMW. A Boeing 787 composite
passenger aircraft doesn’t get any more sophisticated or
recognizable as top-of-the-line manufacturing, and we’re doing
that in the state.”
South Carolina’s coup shocked the state of Washington.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think it ever occurred to the folks inWash-
ington that the plane could be built anywhere other than there,”
said Russell. “There was a lot of bad press. Boeing stood up to a
lot of criticism and pressure from the state of Washington and
employees there when this decision was announced. So we felt
the pressure to step up and make sure this thing had to work and
work very, very well.”
“Boeing understood better than we understood just how crit-
ical the processes are in putting that plane together,” said Russell.
“I was very happy to hear how seriously they take those things
as someone who flies on a plane every once in a while. But this
is critical, critical stuff. They asked us some hard questions. And
they wanted to make sure we understood that this is not like put-
ting a radio together. It’s all critical. There are so many inspec-
tions and so forth, it has to be done exactly right, and we can’t
afford a lot of do-overs.”
Boeing asked tough questions all right. “Can we get this work-
force in South Carolina? You don’t have a history.”
During the decision-making process, Boeing was catching a
hard time back in Everett, Washington. There was a lot of bad
press said Russell. Boeing was hearing statements, such as “We
who work in the Boeing plants in Washington are typically third
generation. This is in our DNA; this is in our blood. We know
how to build airplanes. Those folks in South Carolina have never
done this. They can’t learn how to do this.”
Russell and the system responded.
“We had to be rather bold in stepping up and saying, ‘It may
be that we don’t have the history, but we certainly have the expe-
rience and track record of helping folks learn to do it, and we are
very confident that we can.”
Russell and system leaders then talked about what they did
and do for BMW, but Boeing came back as tough as ever.
“We have all the respect for BMW in the world, but this is
different. This is an airplane flying in the sky.”
“So we had to be convincing,” said Russell. “Obviously, we
were. But I didn’t have any problems stepping up and saying
those things because I know what we can do and there’s just not
another program like our readySC™ program in the country.
Many have copied us, but we’re the best. I knew we could do it.”
Recruiting Boeing to South Carolina represents a pivotal mo-
ment in the system’s fifty-year history. Montez Martin remem-
bers.
“The only time I felt I’m standing at a place where history
is happening was when Boeing rolled out the first aircraft. I
thought, ‘Wow, I am standing at a point in time that will become
a historic moment, not for the world, not for the nation, but cer-
tainly for the Trident region and for Charleston.”
Martin recalls when it all began. “I was chairing the board’s
economic development committee, and Barry Russell started
telling me about this project, the code name, and I said, ‘How
much of this is secret classified information?’”
“Well, quite a bit.”
“Well, tell me the unclassified piece,” said Martin “because I
don’t know whether I talk in my sleep or not, and I don’t want to
say the wrong things in the wrong place.”
