CIRRUS EXPANDING MANUFACTURING CAPACITY
01/21/2002
The Weekly of Business Aviation
40
(Copyright 2002 McGraw-Hill, Inc.)
Cirrus Design Corp., the developer of the SR 20 and SR 22 single-engine aircraft, broke ground last month for a new 63,000-square-foot aircraft manufacturing plant in Duluth, Minn. The new building, next to the company’s existing manufacturing center, will house painting and finishing operations along with a new customer delivery center. Cirrus officials expect to occupy the new building this coming summer and plan to add as many as 150 employees to help meet demand for the two aircraft models.
In addition to breaking ground for the new plant, Cirrus has instituted a number of other changes in its manufacturing operations. David Coleal, who joined the company to head operations, transferred all composite lay-up work to the Grand Forks, N.D. facility and changed the physical layout of the Duluth and Grand Forks facilities as part of a move toward instituting a “lean manufacturing” process. The moves are aimed at allowing the company to increase production to two aircraft per business day during the second quarter of 2002 and to three units per day in 2003.
