EDC, Port eying ways to approach 7E7 suppliers

Agencies may seek partnerships with interested sectors

If Moses Lake were a person standing by the roadside with a sign, that sign might very well read "Will House 7E7 Suppliers for Economic Growth."

The Grant County Economic Development Council and the Port of Moses Lake are looking at ways to approach suppliers for Boeing's new 7E7 jet, a plane that the city came close to housing the new assembly plant for until the company announced last fall that production of the new plane would remain in Everett.

"We want to be sure that we get a chance to present the kind of opportunities that we have, as one of the top prospects for the assembly plant site," said David Senne, executive manager of the Port of Moses Lake. "We want to be sure that the major suppliers know we were in the top four, and know the business opportunities that we have here."

Senne said that the Port and EDC would like to work directly with the Boeing "folks" that would be invoved with identifying and screening suppliers to the 7E7, to find out which companies ae being considered as suppliers.

"One would have helped from the activities that took place a year ago, particularly with regard to Boeing, that we were recognized by them as an opportunity for that approach and that we would maybe have some direct connection from them, maybe some influence by Boeing, with supplier companies that would give us a little inside track," said GCEDC executive director Terry Brewer. "We're not sure that's going to play out that way, as much as we had hoped."

As such, the GCEDC and the Port are working with the state and the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED), which is working with Boeing on implementation of everything that went came out of the program package put together to bring the 7E7 project to Washington, Brewer said. The state is also working on the best methods to renew the aerospace industry after it has dropped off in the past five years.

"The state's talking with other partners, the GCEDC, Snohomish County EDC and many others on how best to work together to engage ourselves in a pro-business activity that will perhaps lead to intelligence gathering," Brewer said. "What companies are really going to be sub-contractors, sub-Tier I suppliers to the project."

Brewer said that Boeing has already published the Tier I suppliers, but not the others. They might not even know, because Tier I suppliers get their own subcontractors, he said.

While the methods of approach have not been determined, Brewer said that the Port, the EDC and others in the Moses Lake community obviously have an interest in attracting that business.

"We think we have some distinct advantages that might be meaningful, but we still haven't settled on the best methodology, or plan even, to make that happen," he said. "I know the EDC has an interest in that, but we also have an interest in the broader. We can't spend all our time trying to do aerospace when there are many other important sectors that we feel are also key to our economy here. Our interests are a little broader, maybe, but still fit together in the scheme of important things to be done this year, at this time, but I guess it's too early to say what we're going to do, how we're going to do it."

Brewer said some partnering will have to take place at whatever level the approach is tried. CTED will be looking for EDCs to partner with because they're saying they don't have the money to completely do what they would like, he said.

"If we do something locally, the Port of Moses Lake probably is going to say, 'We can't do that all by ourselves,'" he said. "I know the EDC would say that. So we'd be trying to partner together and bring people, agencies, maybe private sectors to the table who have an interest in seeing us be successful in that arena. Maybe we can find a way to work together and fund the necessary steps to do a proactive marketing and regeneration campaign."

Brewer praised the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce for developing and implementing an introduction and acclimation program to greet new people in town, particularly those associated with business projects. It's important to have such a process in place, because Brewer said he's heard — and has experienced for himself — that it's difficult for executives to get involved in small communities.

He said that the nation, the area and the state are beginning to see an upward curve in level of interest from companies for new and expansion projects.

He also said that visitors to the area are always complimentary of what they see in Moses Lake - the orderly and attractive downtown landscape, residential areas, the expansion of the hospital and renovation of the schools and so on.

"People are quite complimentary, so what do you do — I think you keep doing all the good things you've been doing," Brewer said, calling attention to the keys to success in recent guest speaker Jack Schultz's book "Boomtown USA." "They really are keys to success, and we've doing a lot of it. So we need to keep doing what we've been doing and when challenges are presented, find a way to work through them and keep moving forward … I think we have a lot of good things on the horizon."

Senne also said things look very good for the future.

"The area has a lot of potential, and I think we're going to see it come about, not perhaps in Boeing, but in other aerospace opportunities," he said.