Boeing to Reorganize Commercial Operations

Boeing Co. said it will consolidate its commercial airplane operations, uniting separate jet production units. Boeing said Jim Jamieson, who had headed the company’s narrow-body jet factory in Renton, Wash., will lead all commercial airplane programs. The company will beef up management ranks in other parts of the commercial airplane group and split operations and components into separate units alongside its sales and marketing, engineering and commercial aviation divisions. “Organizing our airplane programs in this way will enable us to improve the way common processes and solutions are developed and shared,” said Alan Mulally, commercial airplane chief. “It will also help us improve our cost and quality visibility and performance.” Separately, the company was continuing to conduct negotiations with a federal mediator to try to avert a strike by its second-largest labor union, the Society of Professional Employees in Engineering and Aerospace, which represents 22,500 workers. In an unrelated development, Boeing was forced to shut its Everett, Wash., plant for a time as police searched for and captured a fugitive bank robbery suspect who had hidden inside. Boeing shares closed off 81 cents at $41 in NYSE trading.