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737 fuselages are built in Wichita Kansas and are transported by train to Renton, Washington, where the plane is assembled.

Why outsource the fuselage all the way to Kansas? The cost of moving the fuselages by rail can't be trivial. Perhaps it's because of state tax credits, or maybe because Boeing bought Spirit Aerospace which was in Wichita?

Apparently the 737 used to be built in Renton: b737.org

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  • $\begingroup$ Boeing sold the commercial side of the business in Wichita to what is now Spirit Aerosystems. $\endgroup$
    – selectstriker2
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 15:56
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    $\begingroup$ Someone more authoritative can correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a documentary about the 787 Dreamliner that says Boeing has had a lot of problems with their Union'ed employees in Washington where the Union routinely deliberately stalled projects just to increase bargaining leverage. Boeing decided to ramp up production in other locations that did not have existing Unions and subsequently forbid Unions from forming in those locations. Essentially, the Union became too troublesome to work with, so they went around the Union, even though it meant building planes in multiple locations. $\endgroup$
    – SnakeDoc
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 16:18
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    $\begingroup$ @SnakeDoc They can't forbid unions from forming. That's against federal law. Kansas is a "right to work" state, though, which means the unions can't require the company to hire only union workers nor can they require workers to join the union. Washington is not a rtw state so they can require those things. Makes unions much less powerful in Kansas. $\endgroup$
    – TomMcW
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 23:35
  • $\begingroup$ @TomMcW they can't expressly forbid them, no, but they can choose not to hire unioned employees, choose not to promote union employees, etc. That's a heck of a lot easier to do in a new plant that has no existing union. Doing that in WA would be met with immediate confrontation, and would lead to massive labor strikes... exactly the sort of thing Boeing did not want to deal with. The Union became too aggressive and problematic, and led multiple strikes during critical times on builds... Basically holding Boeing hostage until they caved to their never ending demands. $\endgroup$
    – SnakeDoc
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 20:14
  • $\begingroup$ The real question is why are all the other parts built elsewhere. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Commented Jan 2, 2022 at 1:08

2 Answers 2

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The Boeing 737 fuselages (among other components) are built in Wichita for a variety of reasons:

  • Before Boeing sold the Wichita portion of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes business to the Onex Corporation in 2005, Boeing was manufacturing structures for their aircraft in Wichita. The engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and storage resources already existed in Wichita, so it wouldn't make sense to try to move all of that back in house at another location.

  • The cost to transport large components from Wichita to Renton or Everett via train is likely more economical than to manufacture and store them at the final assembly plant.

On a similar vein, Boeing also uses the modified 747 Dreamlifter to transport components between suppliers and Boeing. Wichita is one of the cities that the Dreamlifter flies into, landing at McConnell Air Force Base.

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During World War II Boeing built Bombers in the middle of the nation to deter potential hostile enemies from bombing it's factories. Since German/Japanese bombers didn't have the range to fly another 2000 miles to the US interior. Plus the US already had an extensive freight rail system to move agricultural goods from Central/Midwest US to the East/West Coasts. enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Actually, I've never heard of large aircraft components being moved by rail betwen Kansas and Washington during the WW2 era. At that time, aircraft that were started in Wichita were completed there and flown away. The former Boeing facility is next to a major runway which long ago was part of the Wichita Municipal Airport and now is part of McConnell AFB. See links in my comment under other answer for more. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Commented Feb 1 at 9:31
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    $\begingroup$ PS why the photo of the North American B-25 Mitchells? If there is some connection to the Boeing Wichita factory, you should explain. Here's an interesting link re North American's plant in Kansas City KS, which may be the site of your photo -- b-25history.org/history/fairfax.htm . Note the reference to railroad lines, which were used to transport components to the factory, not from the factory. Note also the reference to design features of the factory buildings to help protect them against bombing attack. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Commented Feb 1 at 9:46

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