THE BUILDINGS

• Groundbreaking at the 240-acre site in North Charleston, S. C., took place February 7, 2005.
• The 14,245-square-foot training facility was completed in October 2005.
• Vought held a grand opening celebration on June 8, 2006, for its new 342,000-square-foot production facility. This is where Vought will fabricate and assemble fuselage sections 47 and 48 for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Vought received an official certificate of occupancy for the building from the City of North Charleston on March 29, 2006.
• The Vought building was "topped out" -- with its final piece of steel in place -- in October 2005, after four months of construction involving 3,500 tons of structural steel. Site employees and the construction crew commemorated the milestone by signing the last steel beam, which was then hoisted atop the structure along with a small evergreen tree and the U.S. and state flags.
• Approximately 70,000 square feet of Vought's 787 facility is dedicated to a composites manufacturing "clean room" with interior clear heights of 40 feet. Its 787 autoclave (curing machine) is 30 feet in diameter and is the world’s largest autoclave by volume.
• A key feature of the Vought building is a mezzanine-level walkway running the length of the facility, from which all manufacturing cells are visible at a safe distance from shop floor operations. A track system will run through the Vought facility to transport the in-production fuselage barrel sections in the early stages of fabrication and assembly before they make their way to the nearby Global Aeronautica facility.
• Global Aeronautica held a grand opening celebration on Dec. 5, 2006, for its new 334,000-square-foot integration facility. This is where Global Aeronautica assembles, integrates, tests and applies surface finished to more than 60 percent of the 787 fuselage. The facility was "topped out" - with its final piece of steel - on January 30, 2006. Global Aeronautica received a certificate of occupancy for the building from the City of North Charleston on June 6, 2006.

Global Aeronautica constructed a facility for painting of the South Carolina-produced 787 product
in 2007.

A taxiway adjacent to the Global Aeronautica building was completed in December 2006 to accommodate Boeing’s 747 Large Cargo Freighter, which is used to transport product from around the world for final assembly in Everett.

THE PEOPLE

• As of January 2008, Vought has hired about 300 people for its South Carolina operations. In addition, there are approximately 300 Vought engineers working on the 787 design, primarily based in Dallas.
• Global Aeronautica has hired approximately 350 workers as of January 2008.
• All job openings for the North Charleston campus can be found on the South Carolina online "One Stop" job bank at here. Insert the following keywords to aid in your search: Vought Aircraft, Global Aeronautica, South Carolina, Charleston.
• Vought anticipates the gradual hiring of approximately 350 people to work at its 787 production facility. Two-thirds of these jobs will be in manufacturing. Of the remaining one-third, about half will be in technical support and the remainder in various other support functions.
• Global Aeronautica will hire approximately 375 people for its assembly and integration facility, and Boeing will add another 50 or so people to support the local Large Cargo Freighter (LCF) and loaders.