Boeing Cuts Back to Single Shift at Delta Rocket Plant

Boeing Co. said Monday that it is cutting back production at its Delta II rocket-manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach in an effort to cut power consumption as Southern California’s aerospace industry continues to struggle with the energy crisis.

Company officials said they reviewed the financial numbers and figured keeping production on schedule was getting too expensive. As a result, Boeing decided to cut back to one work shift from three. About 8,000 people work at the Huntington Beach facility.

Separately, Boeing said it may cut 400 to 500 jobs as it combines various Delta rocket programs into a single unit. The programs now employ about 4,000 people, Boeing spokesman Walt Rice said. The company expects few people will actually lose their jobs because many probably can be shifted to other work in Boeing’s Southern California-based space division, he said. The cuts follow a plan Boeing announced last year to shut some production in Huntington Beach and consolidate manufacturing in Pueblo, Colo., and Decatur, Ala.

The state’s power crisis is affecting other aerospace companies in California, many of which agreed under the interruptible customer program to voluntarily reduce electrical consumption during shortages in return for a break in rates under normal conditions.

“We’re paying a substantial premium,” said Anne Eisele, a Boeing spokeswoman. “It became economically too expensive, so we had to move to a single shift.”

At Boeing’s nearby Long Beach operations, where about 14,000 workers assemble the 717 commercial aircraft and C-17 military transport, the company has been trying to shed as much office electricity consumption as possible to keep production from being interrupted.

A spokesman said air conditioning has been turned off, office lights dimmed and some elevators shut down, leading to some “discomfort” for employees but providing just enough savings to enable the company to keep to its production schedule.

“We have chosen not to [curtail production] because of the commitments we have with our customers,” said John Thom, a Boeing spokesman.

Northrop Grumman Corp. also chose not to curtail work on F-18 fighter planes at its El Segundo plant, electing rather to shut down non-production areas earlier than usual. Since the first of the year, it has been sending workers home at 4:30 and shutting down power to its offices by 5 p.m. when an alert is issued.

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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.