Employment at Orange County’s largest aerospace and defense contractors was roughly flat for the third straight year.
The 26 largest companies here combined for a net loss of 90 positions over the past 12 months for a total of 23,870 jobs here.
It was the fifth straight year with a slight change in employment in a period of alternating job gains and losses. The companies on last year’s list, for example, added 147 positions, a gain of less than 1%.
The operations here make various parts and systems for commercial and military aircraft, among other products.
Three are based in OC, and the rest have subsidiaries and other significant operations here.
Companywide employment for the group was flat at 937,263, as some big gainers offset employers that shed jobs in restructurings, divestitures, or in response to a softening defense market.
Three companies added local employees, with two of them in the growing in-flight entertainment systems business. Three companies cut workers, one was flat, and 19 were Business Journal estimates or didn’t provide enough information for a yearly comparison.
• The list, which ranks companies by number of local employees, was led by perennial top dog Boeing Co.
The Business Journal estimates the Chicago-based company shed 420 positions, bringing its local workforce to about 6,470, down 6% from a year ago. Boeing, which has shed more than 3,000 local employees in the past five years or so, is expected to conclude a $1.6 billion global cost-cutting plan this year that
included job cuts, building closures and demolishings at its sprawling operations in Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Long Beach.
Boeing’s operations in Long Beach and Seal Beach are expected to add about 1,000 engineering positions at a support center for commercial airline customers. The center opened in Long Beach in February, and another in Seal Beach opened in September.
The company is drawing on the region’s deep pool of aerospace engineers and management in a hiring plan that will eventually total 1,300 workers in Seal Beach and Long Beach.
Panasonic Avionics
• Lake Forest-based Panasonic Avionics Corp. moved up one spot to No. 2 after adding 274 workers to 1,944, up 16.4%. The unit of Panasonic Corp. of North America has been on a hiring spree to meet rising demand for its in-flight entertainment systems. It recently installed its 700th eXConnect inflight Wi-Fi system and has a backlog of another 300 installations this year. A total of 56 airlines have committed to the connectivity upgrades for 2,200 aircraft.
The company, which accounts for more than $1 billion in annual sales as part of Japan-based Panasonic Corp., acquired Swedish mobile app and software developer and consultancy Tactel AB last week for an undisclosed sum.
That followed a deal to acquire satellite communication services provider ITC Global in Australia.
• Panasonic Avionics’ rival, Irvine-based Thales Avionics Inc., maintained its No. 8 ranking, adding 149 employees for a total of 1,100, up 16% from a year ago.
Thales Avionics, part of French electronics company Thales Group, has been growing its employment base at its four-building Irvine campus to meet demand from global aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier, all of which are aiming to improve IFE services for passengers, as well as navigation and controls for pilots.
Its local operation got a boost in June when Thales USA acquired JetBlue’s Florida-based in-flight entertainment unit, LiveTV, for $400 million. The buy added more than 500 employees and annual revenue of more than $150 million. The move came under Dominique Giannoni, who took over Thales Avionics in 2013 to pilot the next leg of growth and innovation.
• No. 14, Huntington Beach-based Encore, is a newcomer to the list with an estimated 500 local employees. The company, launched by industry veteran James Downey and Chief Executive Tom McFarland, is soaring with new business opportunities and a roster of established airline customers, including Southwest, Delta and American. Its EnCore Interiors manufacturing unit in Huntington Beach makes galleys, closets, partitions, dividers and other stand-up compartments for commercial airplanes, while its Seal Beach plant builds integrated floor panels for all of Boeing’s B737 and B747 aircraft models set for production this year.
• East Aurora, N.Y.-based Astronics Test Systems moved down three spots to No. 23 after shedding 53 employees.
The cuts followed its $53 million acquisition last year of the Irvine-based test and services division of EADS North America.
“After we acquired them, we right-sized the cost structure for the level of business we had in the test systems segment,” company spokesperson Deborah Pawloski said.
The OC unit, which has hardware expertise in weapons system testing, has been affected by defense-spending cuts in the past few years.
• No. 24, Los Alamitos-based Alliance Spacesystems LLC, another newcomer to the list, was acquired last week by SolAero Technologies Corp., an Albuquerque, N.M.-based maker of solar panels. Alliance, which manufactures composite structures for the aerospace industry, employs about 120 people at its 100,000-square-foot facility.
