Taking Flight

Back to 'Taking Flight eCommunicator: Moving Forward 2012'

By Jennifer Ferrero

Tayloe Washburn is committed to expanding aerospace jobs in Washington State. An attorney with Foster

Tayloe Washburn of Project Pegasus

Pepper, PLLC, Washburn serves on a variety of boards dedicated to training and growth of aerospace careers and ongoing opportunities for Washington be an aviation leader in the world. He was appointment by Governor Gregoire in a grassroots movement to oversee the security of Boeing being awarded the Air Force tanker project.

Once secured, the Governor set up Project Pegasus, a name coined by Washburn to develop and solidify Washington's workforce to prepare for building the 737 MAX in Washington State.

The first step was to determine the lay of the land. "It was concluded that we needed a world class assessment to determine what’s important for any company like Boeing who wants to assemble planes on the planet; what are our competitors doing; how’s Washington state doing?" says Washburn.

A study by Accenture started in summer 2011 and concluded in October details Washington's readiness in the global market to take on the next generation of commercial aircraft, the 737 MAX.

In a report produced by the Governor's office following the Accenture study, the Governor notes that "Today, nearly 650 Washington companies deliver products that build, and help keep safely aloft, Boeing's world-class aircraft and those of global manufacturers." 

Accenture made eight recommendations in the report that are now being implemented statewide through funding of aerospace related jobs and training programs. According to Washburn, there is a need to ramp up quickly due to an aging aerospace workforce, “It was obvious before we did the report that a major challenge we faced is that our workforce was getting older. About half of them will be retiring in the next few years. There is an opportunity.”

Source of photo, Wikipedia

While an early goal for the partners involved with Project Pegasus was to communicate a short term effort of the importance of building the 737 MAX, it has now become an instrumental force in tying together educational institutions in the state – such as community colleges with training programs – with industry leaders who will hire future aerospace workers.

“This has been a wonderful opportunity to broadcast across the state the role that educational institutions play in addressing and helping create jobs in areas and industry where there is a job demand,” shares Washburn.

It seems that Project Pegasus has met success through their communication efforts because during the week of December 5, it was determined that Boeing will build the 737 MAX here in Washington.

But their work isn’t over yet. Washburn adds, “The strategy is to help ensure that Boeing has a successful implementation of this very ambitious program to hire several thousand machinists for production on all models and especially the 737 MAX.”

Project Pegasus, working with the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing (CoE) will be working to collaborate with training programs to bring future machinists and manufacturing workers into the fold to meet the demand for jobs. Partners in the association include aerospace labor leaders, economic development directors from across the state and local and government leaders across the state.

The CoE is instrumental in the organization. Regarding his work with the Center of Excellence for Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing, Washburn concludes, “The Center of Excellence and Mary Kaye Bredeson as a leader is one of the very important organizations very focused on these workforce issues and trying to align what industry needs with education. The personal leadership and commitment to innovation and ensuring that the needs of industry are aligned with our educational system are absolutely essential. We want to invest in these leaders to help solve job creation challenges we face.”

While the winged horse called a Pegasus lifts its heavy body into the sky to take flight, Washington State works to produce a large workforce to be ready for rapid manufacturing growth. The state is taking flight faster than ever before.