2012. That included orders for up to 230 737s, including 201 MAXs, and purchase rights for another 150. “If you look in the region, you can see the seeds of Boeing’s future, with the 737 MAX, the 787 and the 777X all on order in that part of the world,” Keskar said. He added that the recent delivery of Myanmar National Airlines’ first leased Next-Generation 737-800 is a sign that economic growth is spreading to the region’s emerging countries as well. It may take from five to 10 years, he said, but Myanmar could be an important market for Boeing. “Similarly, Cambodia and Laos will grow very fast, and in Vietnam, we’ve only scratched the surface,” Keskar said. In addition to its customer base and expanding presence across Southeast Asia, Boeing has an extensive chain of suppliers across the region, especially for commercial airplane components. In Malaysia, for example, 14 suppliers support all of Boeing’s commercial models, including Aerospace Composites Malaysia, or ACM, a 34 | BOEING FRONTIERS joint venture owned by Boeing and Hexcel that expanded by 40 percent in 2013 to increase production. In the Philippines, a cluster of five suppliers also produces parts used on every Boeing commercial airplane model. That includes B/E Aerospace’s facility there, which makes the lavatory system for every 737. Boeing also has assisted efforts to establish an aerospace industrial base in Vietnam, where Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, or MHI, operates a subsidiary factory that has delivered more than 1,000 shipsets of 737 wing flaps and has expanded to assemble 777 and 777X main entry doors. Nikkiso Japan also makes 777 main entry “blocker” doors, as well as 737 and 787 parts, near Hanoi. Despite the region’s economic growth, not all of its residents are thriving, Boyce said, noting there still are areas of poverty in many Southeast Asian nations. Boeing, through its Global Corporate Citizenship programs, supports efforts that tackle that issue, including a job-training project in rural Bali that teaches residents how to grow, harvest and market coffee beans. The company also supports an extensive project to help human trafficking victims successfully re-emerge into society, providing everything from emotional counseling to job placement. Other corporate citizenship efforts focus on protecting the region’s threatened wildlife, assisting homeless children and orphans, and improving access to education for children with disabilities. “The diversity of what we do,” said Boyce, “is really fantastic.” • ERIC.C.FETTERS-WALP@BOEING.COM
Frontiers February 2016 Issue
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