Finding the Right Location: Four Dimensions of Successful Foreign Direct Investment.
Airbus Assembly Line – Mobile, Alabama

Overview
With the announcement earlier this year by Airbus that it plans to invest $600 million to build jetliners in Mobile, Alabama, the Southeast U.S is well positioned to attract foreign direct investment and U.S suppliers to the region. Central to the supply chain discussion are location strategies that optimize the value chain, drive innovation through the involvement of education and academia in proximity/joint working relationships and provide flexibility for adapting to business change. Location decisions such as these are special events that require careful attention to many conflicting strategic, operational, financial and intangible factors that can set the stage for either great success or fantastic failures.

these issues will be one of the biggest challenges facing the industry in the coming years. This whitepaper explores the key drivers impacting the aerospace industry, the process for developing a comprehensive location strategy in response to industry expansion, and these critical locations factors that lead to location strategy success in the Southeast U.S.: Global commercial aircraft orders have increased six percent in 2011, with accelerating demand for new, more fuel efficient and technologically advanced aircraft. According to a number of studies, the industry will have to increase production by 45 percent to meet demand in the coming year to address the backlog orders. This is evident by the recent announcement by Airbus to double its current $12 billion spend on U.S. suppliers. The demand issues up and down the supply chain will place greater pressure on program management, manufacturing capability and capacity, cost and the greening of aerospace products. Collectively,  Strategic Shift in Supply Base Location