Thu, Apr 30, 2009
The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow... Or Even Sooner If You're In
Duluth
Like most of you, we could not be any sicker of all the bad news
that has been hitting aviation, if we tried. We're ready for some
good news... and darned if it didn't show up, all wrapped bright
and shiny, and looking like INCREASED production for Cirrus
Aircraft. In an internal memo first circulated to the troops in
Duluth, Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters let on that they have increased
their production rate in response to a sunnier sales picture (and
believe you me when we tell you that the term "sunnier" really
means something in the frozen North of Duluth---Ed.).
So... earlier this past week Cirrus starting ramping up
production to six aircraft per week. The increased rate
follows nearly six months of significantly reduced production
rates that averaged approximately two to three fewer units per week
than the new 6X/week rate.
The memo notes that, "We continue to see very encouraging trends
in sales activities and interest from sales prospects domestically
and around the world. The introduction of the new model year lineup
in early January - including FIKI; Cirrus Perspective by Garmin
across the line; X-Edition and more - have us very well positioned
in the market place. Clearly, this is an upward move and is
indicative of a stronger bias toward growth in aircraft orders. At
the same time, targeted production output will continue to be
determined on a month-to-month basis as this flexibility allows us
to favorably position the organization to meet market
fluctuations."
So far, it doesn't[t yet mean much to adding staffing, but that
is sure to follow... Cirrus admits that, "At this time, the
increased rate will result in minimal impact to direct labor head
count, due in large part to recent significant efficiency gains
achieved as a result of ongoing lean production initiatives. Cirrus
Aircraft employees, customers, shareholders and partners have
worked closely together to manage our business in spite of some
very stiff headwinds recently, and though we remain in a very
challenging environment, our hope is that this new rate is the
first step and initial indicator of what will become a more
substantial trend into the second half of the year and beyond."
Cross your fingers, folks and let hope that we hear much more of
this kind of news in the not too distant future.
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