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Boeing Moves Up Planned Closure Of Long Beach Plant

LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Aircraft manufacturing company Boeing announced Monday that it will close its C-17 assembly plant in Long Beach about three months earlier than previously planned.

KNX 1070's Ron Kilgore reports Boeing had initially anticipated closing the plant in late 2015, but has moved that date up to mid-2015.

Boeing Moves Up Planned Closure Of Long Beach Plant

Company officials said the change in plans would incur expected inventory-related charges of about $50 million, which will be recorded in the first quarter.

Over 200 of the four-engine cargo jets capable of delivering 60-ton tanks to war zones were assembled over the last two decades at the Long Beach plant, but as Boeing spokesperson Cindy Anderson told the KNX Business Hour, there are currently "no plans for production at the C-17 facility."

Anderson cited current market trends and the timing of expected orders as factors in the decision.

The aerospace firm started laying off roughly 2,200 employees in California in 2011, citing declining orders for its C-17 cargo planes.

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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