Boeing Expanding Work At Seattle Research Center, Auburn Parts Plant

After years of moving work from its Puget Sound factories to outside suppliers, Boeing is planning to expand key local facilities.

The company will beef up its manufacturing research center in Seattle and will increase work at its Auburn parts plant, the Seattle Times reported.

The newspaper reported the idea is to improve the company's manufacturing capabilities and avoid some of the glitches that hit the first 787 Dreamliners.

KIRO 7 Aviation analyst Scott Hamilton said the move reflects what Boeing's unions have been saying all along -- that local workers have skills the company can't get elsewhere.

"This is highly significant for Puget Sound," Hamilton wrote in an e-mail. "Although the information from Boeing is general about the long-term affects for local jobs and production, the fact remains that 787 work is being brought back to Seattle after years of outsourcing."

"This is … a major step in repairing the labor-management difficulties that have plagued Boeing for years," Hamilton wrote. "Outsourcing has been a sore point with the IAM 751 and SPEEA (the machinists’ and engineers’ unions) and Boeing is demonstrating confidence and hope that bringing work home will alleviate some of these issues. It is now up to the unions to meet Boeing in a spirit of cooperation as we look ahead toward 2012 contract negotiations with both unions."