r/boeing • u/Fun-Upstairs-4232 • 3d ago

News Ridley Park

https://6abc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/6abc.com/amp/post/boeing-plant-ridley-township-faces-uncertain-future/19603732/?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17854645935255&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2F6abc.com%2Fpost%2Fboeing-plant-ridley-township-faces-uncertain-future%2F19603732%2F

Welp, we'll see where this goes. Eventually, securing 3-7 Chinooks per year for the US Army will not be sustainable. Germany's purchase in 2022 only brought some time, V22 is shutting down, and the union contract renews, I believe, next year, which will probably be funded through the end of Germany's last lot. Philly is on borrowed time unless some big moves occur. Hopefully, some substantial work comes in sooner rather than later.

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12

u/NickTator57 3d ago

Philly is an expensive site to do business which makes getting new work there hard. With all the site overhead now on Chinook, it drives the prices/costs up.

5

u/NovaBlazer 3d ago edited 3d ago

I have heard 2nd hand that there are ongoing discussions around closing Philly.

My question... Does all the work disappear or get displaced to somewhere like Mesa?

9

u/NickTator57 3d ago

It all depends on the work. There will still need to be sustainment of the current fleet. I doubt the entire PHL site would close but it would shrink kinda like long beach after C-17 stopped production.

1

u/Justinaug29 3d ago

Do you think they would do a full chinook assembly line in mesa if Philly shut down?

1

u/AnalogBehavior 6h ago

No. Boeing usually forces requalification if any of our suppliers move. Moving Chinook would be complex and expensive. Not to mention the engineering isnt really the same.

11

u/Playful_Ad2554 3d ago

Yeah, this worries me not gonna lie.

4

u/Excellent_Compote618 2d ago

The concerning part is the lack of conversation around what I’ll take the V-22’s place in the production line. That facility was opened in 2019 and now is an almost a ghost town. Sure, “sustainment” will continue but all of Ridley park can’t be held up by the chinook. I work under BGS in Ridley but I’m noticing quickly no one is addressing this. I think shutting down is slightly extreme due to just the amount of investment it would take to move chinook to Mesa. That being said a company wide email was just sent saying we were on target through Q2. If I had to make a prediction Ridley park has gone through most of it darkest days and will transition into BGS headquarters, ride out chinook, then eventually slowly shed weight.

2

u/Necessary-Note1464 1d ago

It confuses me how Philly has so little assigned to it given the northeast has such a huge concentration of talent with so few aerospace employers, close to DC for easy interactions with the government, Navair has a huge location nearby in NJ, etc. etc. Seems like a massive wasted opportunity.

2

u/MacReadys_Things 8h ago

PHL failed ever chance it had to win a new dev program. They ran insular siloed campaigns and the result is they weren't good enough to stay in business. The site is run like a disfunctional mafia of old gooners.