Building up Boeing
Local chief vows to be 'extremely proactive'finding areas to grow

Sunday, May 21, 2006

By BRIAN LAWSON
Times Business Writer brianl@htimes.com

Chuck Allen, head of business operations for Boeing Co. in Huntsville, moved here six years ago but was able to settle in only recently and is looking forward to the days ahead for the company's local operations.

"Throughout Boeing, Huntsville is seen as a very desirable place to do work," Allen said. "It has high-quality people, reasonable rates for work and there is a sense Boeing would like to move work here."

Allen, a retired Marine colonel, was a former program director for Boeing's Comanche helicopter program and served as program manager for Boeing's Space Exploration Systems.

Allen took his current position in March. He had moved to Huntsville more than six years ago and planned to live here, but other Boeing assignments delayed those plans.

He is the first Boeing vice president to be based in Huntsville. The company is revising how its Huntsville business operates, with Allen talking on the title of vice president of business operations.

A native of Arkansas, Allen said he and his wife have lived in "every corner of the world" and chose to live in Huntsville because it's a "great place" with "great people."

"We went on the recent chamber of commerce trip to Washington with a lot of people who've known each other for 15 years, and we felt so included. Everyone was so friendly and made an effort to make sure we were comfortable," Allen said.

He succeeded Linda Hait, the senior site executive, who recently retired. Allen will be joined by two other Boeing vice presidents in coming months: Scott Fancher, who will oversee Boeing's Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, and Jim Chilton, acting head of Space Exploration's Launch Systems.

Allen said the location of the executives reflects the company's commitment to Huntsville.

He said his job description includes ensuring Boeing's Huntsville operation is better able to communicate with other Boeing facilities and making organization and business functions more uniform throughout the company. He said that will allow the Huntsville operation and Boeing as a whole to be more responsive to customers.

Boeing's Huntsville facility employs about 2,700 people, with about 75 percent of the work force devoted to missile defense work. The company also does work for the International Space Station in Huntsville and some work related to the military's Future Combat Systems program.

"My job is to help our customers be successful, to ensure we have the facilities, capabilities, infrastructure and a stable work force to help customers succeed," Allen said.

Allen said the diverse lines of work at the Boeing plant in Huntsville mean it is poised for additional opportunities, ranging from the possibility of adding testing labs to hoped-for work through NASA's selection of a contractor for its Crew Exploration Vehicle.

NASA is scheduled to select a contractor by August for the vehicle, which will be used to ferry astronauts to the space station and possibly the moon.

Boeing's Huntsville operation was one of the Boeing sites included in a three-month strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Workers voted to go back to work in February, despite little change in the original contract offer they rejected last fall.

Allen said that nobody wins in a strike and that part of his job is making sure workers at the plant see they have a future with Boeing. Allen said employees who work on space-station-related projects possess the exact same skills needed for work on a new space vehicle contract that the company hopes to win.

"I take very personally talk about laying people off," Allen said. "I intend to be extremely proactive in finding work for this plant, to give us opportunities."

Allen has been with Boeing, and before that McDonnell Douglas, since 1987, and he said the range of relationships he has in the company with key Boeing officials will help him find work for Huntsville employees.

Allen said his job also includes helping to raise Boeing's community profile, making sure Alabama's largest aerospace company takes on the duties and community responsibility befitting its presence.