Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Spirit AeroSystems
The Wichita, Kansas aerostructures maker that Boeing sold to the Canadian private-equity firm Onex in June 2005 for ~$1.2bn (~$900m cash plus ~$300m of assumed liabilities, reported), that listed on 21 Nov 2006, built most of the 737's fuselage and large sections of every other Boeing jet plus wing and fuselage work for Airbus — and that Boeing bought back twenty years later, closing on 8 Dec 2025, after a run of quality escapes, the Alaska Airlines door plug (5 Jan 2024) on a Spirit-built fuselage, and a liquidity crisis that only Boeing's advances kept from becoming a bankruptcy. Its story is the book's cleanest case of make vs buy reversed: a single-customer supplier whose margin was squeezed by its customer, whose process capability slipped under rate pressure, and whose risk returned to the customer in the end (08). Spirit no longer exists as an independent company: its Boeing work and ~15,000 employees at five sites are Boeing's; its Airbus-related businesses (Kinston, Saint-Nazaire, Belfast's A220 work, a Casablanca site) are Airbus's; the Subang, Malaysia site was agreed for sale to CTRM in Aug 2025 (~$95.2m, reported; closing not confirmed); part of Belfast is a Boeing subsidiary branded Short Brothers; Spirit Defense is a non-integrated subsidiary of Boeing Defense, Space & Security (Shared facts).
At a glance
- Founded
- Jun 2005 as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems, Onex's vehicle for Boeing's Wichita, Tulsa and McAlester operations; renamed Spirit AeroSystems (reported). Wichita aircraft manufacturing dates to Stearman and Boeing's wartime B-29 plant (from memory, verify)
- Headquarters
- Wichita, Kansas
- Ownership / structure
- Listed on the NYSE (SPR) from 21 Nov 2006 until Boeing's acquisition closed on 8 Dec 2025; Onex sold down its stake by 2014 (~$3.2bn of proceeds on ~$375m invested, by Aug 2014, reported)
- Leadership
- Jeff Turner (CEO 2005–13), Larry Lawson (2013–16), Tom Gentile (2016–Sep 2023) (all from memory, verify dates); Patrick Shanahan — a former Boeing executive and acting US Defense Secretary (2019, from memory, verify) — named interim CEO when Gentile left (Gentile left the board effective 30 Sep 2023, reported), later permanent (from memory, verify)
- Main sites (pre-split)
- Wichita, Kansas (737 fuselage; 767, 777, 787 sections; P-8 and KC-46 fuselages); Tulsa and McAlester, Oklahoma; Kinston, North Carolina (A350 fuselage section and spar, from memory, verify); Saint-Nazaire, France; Prestwick, Scotland (from memory, verify); Belfast, Northern Ireland and Casablanca, Morocco (ex-Bombardier, 2020); Subang, Malaysia; Dallas (aftermarket, ex-Bombardier)
- Scale
- ~6,000 IAM members in Wichita (Jun 2023 strike, reported); ~15,000 employees at the five sites that joined Boeing and >4,000 at the sites that joined Airbus (Shared facts); revenue ~$6bn a year in 2023–24 (from memory, verify) with recurring net losses from 2020 (from memory, verify)
- Customers
- Boeing (well over half of revenue, reported, verify share); Airbus (A350, A320 family, A220 wings); business jets and defence (from memory, verify)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Onex buys Boeing Wichita (2005); IPO (2006); 737 MAX grounding hit (2019–20); Bombardier Belfast and Morocco acquisition (2020); the 2023 IAM Wichita strike; quality escapes, the door plug fuselage and the CEO change (2023–24); the 2024 liquidity crisis and Boeing's advances; the split sale to Boeing and Airbus (2024–25)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2005
Onex Buys Boeing Wichita
Founding — carve-out acquisition from Boeing with long-term supply agreements
2006
IPO
IPO — listing on the NYSE (SPR) and the first step of Onex's exit
2019
737 MAX Grounding Hit
Customer disruption and response — building into the grounding, then cutting production and jobs (failure in outcome)
2020
Bombardier Belfast and Morocco Acquisition
Acquisition — Bombardier's aerostructures and aftermarket businesses in Belfast (Northern Ireland), Casablanca (Morocco) and Dallas
2023
IAM Wichita Strike and Contract
Labour agreement or strike — a five-day strike by ~6,000 IAM members, then a new four-year contract
2023
Quality Escapes and Leadership Change
Quality failure (failure) and the leadership change that followed
2024
Liquidity Crisis and Boeing Advances
Financing (failure) — customer cash advances to a supplier near insolvency, and going-concern warnings
2025
Split Sale to Boeing and Airbus
Sale to customers — Boeing acquires the company and its Boeing-related operations; Airbus takes the Airbus-related businesses (make-vs-buy reversed)