Raytheon Technologies Corp. is preparing to shift work from East Hartford, CT to a planned Pratt & Whitney manufacturing plant in Asheville, with a $650 million investment.
Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said the Asheville factory will be a “much lower cost, much more automated production facility.” A portion of the work will be done by the supply chain and “some of it will involve moving work from high cost to lower cost locations,” he told industry analysts as the defense and aviation giant released third-quarter financial results,
The 1-million sq. ft. “greenfield plant” will be used to build Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan and F-35 fighter jet engines, he said in the call reported by the Hartford Courant.
Raytheon Technologies expects annual cost savings of $175 million from the North Carolina plant that Hayes said will “modernize and transform” Pratt’s operations.
Employee pay in North Carolina, is lower than for unionized workers in Connecticut. The cost of electricity in North Carolina is also cheaper than in Connecticut.
The published story said Pratt & Whitney reported a $43 million loss in the third quarter, a decline of 108% from the same period last year, driven primarily by a drop in commercial aerospace sales. It was partially offset by cost-cutting and military aerospace sales.