Kansas manufacturing employment had a delayed reaction from the recession, which started in December 2007 and ended in 2009. In fact, employment started to decline in 2009 to 167,057 from 187,151 in 2008 (10.7 percent). Manufacturing employment in the state remained stable the following years. Similarly, Kansas transportation equipment manufacturing, which is a major employing sector in Kansas, had a similar reaction as its employment started to decline in 2009 by 15.2 percent from 2008. Transportation Equipment Manufacturing employment kept declining the following years. Unlike Kansas manufacturing and Kansas Transportation Equipment Manufacturing employment, Kansas food manufacturing employment, another important section in Kansas, food manufacturing employment remained stable in the last decade.

Industry News

A company that specialized In VIP interiors, Emerald Aerospace LLC, opened at the former Boeing Co. property in April. The company’s 200,000 square-feet facility will permit work on large aircraft. Triumph Group, an aircraft supplier headquartered in Pennsylvania and a Wichita-area employer, announced in May its plans to cut jobs and close facilities, resulting from a $1 billion loss in its fiscal year 2016 (ended March 31). The supplier’s workforce will be reduced by 8 percent in the next couple of years with the consolidation of ten facilities. Facility consolidation will also diminish Triumph total facilities’ footprint by 3.5 million square-feet, particularly in the company’s aerostructure market segment, and generate $55 million in annualized pre-tax savings. Triumph currently has 175 employees in its Wichita location and 140 employees in its Wellington location.

General aviation shipments manufacturers worldwide decreased 4.3 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter 2016; total billings decreased 11.1 percent.

In the first quarter of 2016, the Boeing Co. delivered 139 commercial airplanes, an increase of 23 airplanes, or nearly 20 percent over first quarter 2015.

In the first quarter of 2016, Airbus delivered 125 commercial airplanes.

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