WOMAN-OWNED SEATTLE SMALL BUSINESS IS GROWING AND ADDING JOBS BY SUPPLYING PARTS FOR EX-IM BANK-FINANCED U.S. AIRCRAFT EXPORTS
Western Metals, a 14-employee woman-owned business in Seattle, WA, plans to hire six more workers and enlarge its plant to accommodate its flourishing business supplying machine parts for commercial aircraft manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Seattle, WA.
D. Vanessa Weaver, a member of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), which helps finance U.S. exports including Boeing commercial aircraft to emerging markets around the world, visited Western Metals and toured the plant today.
Thousands of suppliers around the country participate in every Boeing commercial aircraft export that Ex-Im Bank helps finance, Weaver said. These indirect exports are an important part of Ex-Im Bank's mission to support well-paying U.S. jobs at small and large companies alike. In 2000, Boeing paid $13 billion to 8,450 U.S. suppliers on its commercial aircraft. A significant percentage of Boeing's commercial airplane sales are to customers outside the United States.
Ethyl and Jack Woods, president and general manager, respectively, and co-owners of Western Metals, have been supplying aerospace and commercial machine parts, sheet metal and assemblies to Boeing and other customers for 24 years. They currently supply parts for the Boeing 737, 747 and 767 aircraft. For example, Western Metals supplied parts for all of the 15 Boeing aircraft that were exported with Ex-Im Bank support last September. Ex-Im Bank provided $575 million in long-term loan guarantees to enable Air Algerie, Algeria; Hainan Airlines, China; and Lauda Air, Austria, to acquire these 15 aircraft. Ex-Im Bank currently supports approximately 570 U.S.-manufactured aircraft that have been exported to almost 50 different foreign countries.
Boeing accounts for a major share of our business, said Ethyl Woods. We are going to hire at least six more employees and remodel our plant to create more space. We also are forming an alliance to keep other shops in this area busy. We give them work supplying parts to us and then we do the quality control for them. So far we're working with seven shops and we're looking for more.
Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports primarily to emerging markets throughout the world by providing loans, guarantees and insurance. In fiscal year 2001, Ex-Im Bank supported $12.5 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.