Boeing to create 250 jobs in five-year Adelaide hub plan
AN aviation giant will create 250 highly-skilled technology jobs, including roles for software engineers and researchers, through a five-year plan to set up a new Adelaide CBD hub.
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AVIATION giant Boeing will create 250 highly-skilled technology jobs, including roles for software engineers and researchers, through a five-year plan to set up a new Adelaide CBD hub.
Premier Jay Weatherill and Boeing will on Thursday sign an agreement that has been secured through the state’s investment attraction agency and Defence SA.
Five of the workers will be relocated from Queensland but the rest will be new hires.
Boeing is the world’s biggest aerospace company and the State Government hopes its arrival in Adelaide will trigger spin-off job creation in the broader defence sector and start-ups in other hi-tech industries.
The Government is refusing to reveal how much was paid out of its $26 million economic investment fund to lure Boeing, saying the transaction details are “commercial in confidence”.
Mr Weatherill will sign a deed with Boeing managing director Darren Edwards on Thursday and the company’s new Currie St office is scheduled to officially open in the coming week.
The Premier said the company’s arrival was a massive vote of confidence as SA sought to transition from old industries like heavy manufacturing to sophisticated services and products.
“Boeing’s move builds on SA’s reputation as the defence state and supports our push to create the industries and the jobs of the future,” Mr Weatherill said.
“Boeing is a global brand and their decision to choose SA for their expansion demonstrates confidence in our state’s future.”
The 250 jobs in SA will be added over five years and include project managers, systems
designers, software engineers and researchers conducting aircraft support.
There will also be staff involved in research and development, product support and systems integration.
Mr Edwards said work to be undertaken at the new office would include “advanced experimentation and prototyping” of new products and the hub would become a test bed for innovation in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance services and products.
He said the expansion built on its existing SA work on the E-7A Wedgetail, P-8A Poseidon and Collins Class subs.
Boeing is a leading manufacturer of commercial jet airliners, military aircraft and defence, space and security systems around the world.
The company employs 140,000 people across the globe.
The SA jobs rollout will come as work is expected to ramp up on new shipbuilding and submarine construction at Techport, but as the doors are slammed shut at carmaker Holden later this year.
SA already has developed an aerospace hub at Edinburgh, where parts are produced for the massive joint strike fighter jet project.
The State Government’s Defence 2025 strategy seeks to make SA “a national hub for airborne maritime surveillance and weapons system test and evaluation”.
The Government says Boeing’s new technology hub will be established in Adelaide’s CBD and support “advanced military systems and leading-edge research and development” in the field.
Mr Weatherill said Boeing’s employees would work closely with universities.
“Boeing’s expansion in SA will create opportunities for highly-skilled workers in the defence and research sector, with flow on effects to the supply chain and broader economy,” he said.
“It also signals the increasing aerospace presence in SA.
“As we transition towards our hi-tech advanced manufacturing future these are the types of high-calibre opportunities that will attract and encourage our young graduates and students to work in SA.”
Boeing’s operations in Australia are its largest outside of the United States.
It employs more than 3000 people nationally, the majority based in Queensland.