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membership as an employment condition, led to an accusation from the Machinists union of illegal
retaliation for strikes.
The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Boeing, only to withdraw it after Boeing
and the union reached a new contract that promised that the upgraded narrow- body 737, the MAX,
would be built in the Seattle area.
Albaugh offered no comments regarding any compensation to Air India, though he had last month
disputed the Indian government's statement that the plane maker agreed to pay $500 million in
compensation because of delays to the jet, that were to be delivered in May 2008. Air India demanded
in February that the company pay up $1 billion after saying in August 2010 that it would seek $840
million. At the time of placing orders, airlines sign for delivery slots, and with penalties for late deliveries
like what Boeing is facing for the 787.
South Carolina has been an important and at the same time an occasionally weak link of the chain.
Problems and inefficiencies at plants owned by Boeing suppliers in South Carolina added to the delays in
the 787's development. With a view to regain control of Dreamliner production, Boeing bought portions
of the operations of two of its South Carolina partners in 2009.
With the purchase of the two operations, Boeing went on to undertake a $750 million expansion to
build Boeing South Carolina. According to Rob Stallard, an aerospace analyst, it had been pretty
impressive how Boeing had got the whole operation together, and was now actually rolling out an
aircraft from a factory that has never made a plane before. Meanwhile, local leaders have used the
attention on South Carolina - a state unfriendly to unions, to promote the state as an aerospace
manufacturing hub. Now a few aerospace companies have operations in South Carolina, which include
Boeing, Honeywell International and Lockheed Martin. The plant has a 6,000-strong workforce and is
expected to create more jobs in the state.
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Infosys guns for more biz from US in healthcare, public service
Infosys, India’s second-largest IT services company is angling for more business from the US, despite
facing criticism in that country for alleged visa abuse. Infosys Public Services (IPS), the subsidiary formed
by the company to focus on the US government and healthcare market back in October 2009, is now a
$120-million business.
“There is a lot of interest in what we are bringing to the table and we have not faced any opposition,”
said Ashok Vemuri, head of Americas, Infosys. “It (IPS) enhances our brand image and hopefully there
will be a positive rub off in the US,” he added. Vemuri said there are two very clear business segments
for IPS in the US — healthcare and public services. The healthcare services market is generally a quasigovernment
activity, while the public services segment includes the federal, states and city
governments. Besides Infosys, other Indian IT companies that have a presence in the US public sector
market are Wipro and TCS. Wipro has a nine-year, $407-million outsourcing contract with the State of
Missouri for delivering healthcare services to US citizens.
According to Vemuri, the US government is one of the large innovators and consumers of technology.
Some of the key areas where IPS would be focusing are technology solutions for regulatory changes in
healthcare segment and consulting and system integration solutions in various governments. IPS is
already working with five state governments in the US, and in one of the business engagements, it even
put the entire e-mail infrastructure of a government on the cloud.
Vemuri was very categorical that IPS was not doing anything similar to what its parent company is doing.