Now Portland (well, Gresham, Ore., to be exact) has happily gotten on the Boeing bandwagon in an even bigger way, as the company replaced aging facilities with a new 64,000-square-foot processing plant and a 34,000-square-foot fabrication area. The new facility opened on Aug. 10.
The facilities, which will employ 1,800 folks in the LEED structures, will produce “some of the most critical machined parts and structures for Boeing jetliners,” according to Boeing officials, including for the company’s new 787 Dreamliner.
The Gresham-made parts will travel up the Interstate 5 corridor to assembly plants in Everett and Renton, both in Washington, as well has head east to Boeing South Carolina plant.
The parts processing center will focus on its most complex machining, including gear systems and flight controls.
The $200 million, two-year project was designed and built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold standard while the 34,000-square-foot expansion was completed to the LEED Silver standard, Boeing's required standard for all new construction and expansion projects.
LEED strategies employed on the new processing facility include skylights, a reflective roof, light-emitting diode (LED) parking lot lights and water conserving landscaping consisting of native plant species, recycled and salvaged building materials and enhanced environmental controls.
"This new facility and expansion project represents the state-of-the-art in metal parts finishing," says Perry Moore, Boeing Portland general manager. “It also represents an environmentally progressive and efficient production model for other manufacturing facilities to follow."
Now ranked as one of the largest profile milling facilities in the world (it is certainly the largest in Boeing’s fleet), the facility—also an ISO 14001-certified site for environmental management—will supply parts to all 7-series planes.
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