Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., a major supplier to aircraft maker Boeing Co, is considering outsourcing up to 85 U.S. supply chain jobs, possibly to a company overseas, according to three people familiar with the plan.
The Wichita, Kansas-based maker of aerospace components notified workers in December that the supply chain work “could possibly be sub-contracted in the near future,” according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Outsourcing to a foreign company could complicate Spirit’s defense work, and runs counter to the trend at some defense firms, said Franklin Turner, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer at McCarter & English who represents prime contractors and sub-contractors in the supply chain.
“It’s a reality of globalization that companies are trying to find the cheapest rates to get work done,” he said. But “companies I deal with are shying away from that practice. Anytime something like that is performed outside the United States, there’s an increased risk to the integrity of the operation.”