Production Level Returns To Normal, Workers Recalled

After a significant restructuring effort over the past three months, Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation told ANN Monday it has restored its production level to three new aircraft per week, and that nearly all of the 185 employees furloughed in late March are now back at work.

"We made a lot of dramatic moves earlier this year with the objective of increasing our efficiency and strengthening Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation," said Columbia President Wan Majid. "Over the past eight to 12 weeks, we’ve made significant improvements to our production processes and tooling and laid a foundation for our future success. We are grateful to all of our employees for their dedication and the sacrifices they’ve made to enable this evolution of our Company."

As ANN reported, Columbia announced the restructuring and furloughs March 22, three weeks after the company laid off 59 workers due to issues stemming from a 2006 hailstorm that damaged planes on the ramp outside the planemaker's Bend, OR facility, as well as delayed certification efforts with the company's G1000 avionics installation.

Columbia's Vice President of Manufacturing, Chris Redgrave, adds most workers furloughed in March have now been recalled and are back to work.

"Even during the furlough period, many of our employees were essentially doing their homework in anticipation of returning to their jobs," he said. "We held a couple of voluntary seminars on Lean Manufacturing, which were well attended. I believe that we’re well positioned now to produce aircraft more efficiently while maintaining our extremely high quality standards."

The returning employees will have plenty to do, said Randy Bolinger, Vice President of Marketing & Sales.

"We don’t publish sales or backlog figures, but I can safely say that we've comfortable with the order level of the past few months," Bolinger said. "We delivered more aircraft during the first quarter than we did during the same period last year and I expect that we'll continue to see strong sales and deliveries."

FMI: www.flycolumbia.com