Boeing will reduce its headcount by about 2,000 in the coming months in an effort to streamline its corporate functions. The cuts would affect about 1,500 people in the financial department and 400 in Human Resources (HR).
The cuts were reported by the Seattle Times, with a Boeing spokesperson confirming the news to the publication. AeroTime has approached Boeing for comment.
The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) wants to simplify processes and cut out some tasks by allowing managers to use automation to create data reports, for example. About a third of the 2,000 jobs affected by the cuts are to be outsourced to Tata Consulting Services (TCS), an India-based consultancy service with more than a dozen products and solutions for its customers.
As of Q4 2022, Boeing had 156,000 employees, with 13% located outside the United States. By the end of 2021, the company employed 142,000 people with 12% located outside the US.
Boeing has continued to hire production personnel, especially as it aims to ramp up aircraft delivery numbers in the coming years. For example, the OEM built 31 737 MAX aircraft each month in 2022 and plans to increase that number to around 50 in 2025/2026. It will replace the outgoing 747 assembly line with a 737 one in Everett, Washington, US, in addition to the other three lines in Renton, Washington,
Prior to the 737 MAX groundings and the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced the demand for aircraft, Boeing produced 52 jets of the type monthly as of Q1 2019. The manufacturer also aims to increase the production of the 787, which is currently below its target of five per month, and will eventually resume building the 777X-9 once it has been certified.
David Calhoun, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, said that production rate increases for the 737 MAX program, for example, is all about “trained labor availability”.
“Hiring is not a constraint anymore. People are able to hire the people they need. It’s all about the training and ultimately getting them ready to do the sophisticated work that we demand,” Calhoun continued during Boeing’s Q4 2022 investors call. He added that Boeing has had no trouble hiring people, mentioning the fact that the producer has been on a “good run”, hiring more than 10,000 people on the engineering front. “Our job is to make sure that we just train them right, get them involved early,” Calhoun added.
