Spirit AeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: SPR
Industry	Aerospace and defense
Founded	1927 (in 2005, company took on current name)
Headquarters	Wichita, Kansas, USA
Key people	Jeff Turner, CEO
Products	Aerostructures Space systems
Revenue	$4.172 Billion year end (12/31/2010)
Employees	11,845 (12/31/2006)
Website	http://spiritaero.com

Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. ("Spirit"), based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fuselage, and the cockpit (referred to as "Section 41" by Boeing) of nearly all of its airliners. Spirit also produces fuselage sections and front wing spars for the Airbus A350.^[1] Spirit's main competition comes from Vought Aircraft Industries, Goodrich, Alenia, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Spirit was formed when Boeing Commercial Airplanes sold its Wichita division to investment firm Onex. Boeing Defense, Space & Security retained its military business in Wichita, which lies on neighboring land. The Wichita division was responsible for construction of many important aircraft in Boeing's history, including the B-29 Superfortress, B-47 Stratojet, and B-52 Stratofortress. Spirit can trace its legacy back even further to Stearman Aircraft, which was founded on the same site. Stearman later became part of Boeing. Spirit also includes North American Aviation's former Tulsa and McAlester facilities (both in Oklahoma.)

On January 31, 2006, BAE Systems announced it had agreed to sell its aerostructures business, based at Glasgow Prestwick Airport and Samlesbury Aerodrome, to Spirit.^[2] The BAE unit, which was renamed Spirit AeroSystems (Europe) Ltd., is a major supplier to Raytheon (5%), Airbus (80%), and Boeing (15%). The transaction was completed on April 1, 2006. With this purchase, Spirit is no longer critically dependent upon a single customer for business.

In 2010, 96% of Spirits revenue came from its two largest customers, 85% of sales were from Boeing, 11% from Airbus. In 2009 these two customers represented 96% of sales for Spirit as well. ^[3]

After planning to take Spirit public,^[4] at initial public offering on November 21, 2006, the firm's stock rose 10% on the first day.^[5] Onex still owns 58% of Spirit, which results in 92% of voting power, as its shares confer "supervoting" power.^[5]

Former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO) serves as a labor consultant for Spirit and sits on its board of directors.^[6]

In July 2011, Spirit Aerosystems walked out of negotiations with the union that represents its engineering, technical and professional workforce.^[7] The union subsequently voted the company's last contract offer receiving a 96.5% rejection vote. The company did not change its contract offer significantly after this rejection and relations with its workforce have been contentious ever since. With negotiations at a standstill, production schedules for 2011 and 2012 are threatened.^{[8] [9]}

Facilities

• Wichita, Kansas (Headquarters, ex-Stearman/Boeing)
• McAlester, Oklahoma (ex-North American/Rockwell/Boeing)
• Tulsa, Oklahoma (ex-North American/Rockwell/Boeing)
• Samlesbury, England, United Kingdom (Small office based on a BAE Systems site)
• Prestwick, Scotland, United Kingdom (ex-BAE Systems)
• Subang, Malaysia (Manufacturing Plant)
• Kinston, North Carolina (Manufacturing Plant, Global TransPark)
• Jinjiang City, China (Joint Venture)
• Saint Nazaire, France (Manufacturing Plant)
• Moscow, Russia (Joint Venture)

References

External links

• Official website
• "Spirit gets first shot at non-Boeing job", Wichita Business Journal, October 16, 2005