HISTORY
The
company traces its history to June
1911, when Clyde Cessna, a farmer in
Rago, Kansas, built a
wood-and-fabric plane and became the
first person to build and fly an
aircraft between the Mississippi
River and the Rocky Mountains.
Cessna started his aircraft ventures
in Enid, Oklahoma, testing many of
his early planes on the salt flats.
When bankers in Enid refused to lend
him more money to build his planes,
he moved to Wichita.
Cessna
Aircraft was formed in 1927 when
Clyde Cessna and Victor Roos became
partners in the Cessna-Roos Aircraft
Company. Roos resigned just one
month into the partnership selling
back his interest to Cessna.
In the same year, the Secretary of
State approved a name change to
Cessna Aircraft Company. The
Cessna DC-6 earned certification on
October 29, 1929, sharing this day
in history with the stock market
crash of 1929.
Cessna
Aircraft Company closed its doors
from 1932 until 1934 due to the
state of the economy. In 1934, Dwane
Wallace, with the help of his
brother Dwight, took control of the
company and began the process of
building it into what would become a
global success. In 1933,
Cessna CR-3 custom racer took its
first flight. The plane won the 1933
American Air Race in Chicago and
later set a new world speed record
for engines smaller than 500 cubic
inches by averaging 237 mph (381
km/h). In 1937, the Cessna
C-37 was introduced as Cessna's
first seaplane when equipped with
Edo floats.
In
1940, the U.S. Army gave Cessna
their largest order to date, when
they ordered 33 specially equipped
Cessna T-50s. Later this same year,
the Royal Canadian Air Force placed
an additional order for 180 T-50s.
1946
saw Cessna return to commercial
production after the revocation of
wartime production restrictions
(L-48) with the release of the Model
120 and Model 140. The approach was
to introduce a new line of all-metal
aircraft that used production tools,
dies and jigs rather than the
hand-built process used older
tube-and-fabric construction.
In 1948 the Model 140 was named by
the US Flight Instructors
Association, as the "Outstanding
Plane of the Year".
1955
saw Cessna's first helicopter, the
Cessna CH-1, receive FAA
type
certification.
In 1956, Cessna released the Cessna
172 which went on to become the most
produced airplane in history.
In
1960, Cessna affiliated itself with
Reims Aviation of Reims, France.
1963 saw Cessna produce its 50,000th
airplane, a Cessna 172.
Cessna's first business jet, the
Cessna Citation I performed its
maiden flight on September 15, 1969.
In
1975, Cessna produced its 100,000th
single engine airplane.
In
1985, Cessna became a wholly owned
subsidiary of General Dynamics
Corporation. Production of the
Cessna Caravan began.
In
1992, General Dynamics announced the
sale of Cessna to Textron Inc.
On 27
November 2007, Textron announced
that Cessna had purchased the
bankrupt Columbia Aircraft company
for US $26.4M and would continue
production of the Columbia 350 and
400 as the Cessna 350 and Cessna 400
at the Columbia factory in Bend,
Oregon.
Also
on 27 November 2007, Cessna
announced the new Cessna 162 would
be made in the People's Republic of
China by Shenyang Aircraft
Corporation, which is a subsidiary
of China Aviation Industry
Corporation I (AVIC I), a Chinese
government-owned consortium of
aircraft manufacturers. By
manufacturing the aircraft in China,
Cessna reports it saved US $71,000
in production costs
per
aircraft, or about 40% of the cost.
A second reason cited for moving
production to Shenyang Aircraft
Corporation was Cessna had no plant
capacity available in the USA at the
time.
Cessna
received a high degree of negative
feedback from 162 customers and
potential customers regarding this
decision. Complaints centered on the
recent problems with Chinese
production of other consumer
products, China's human rights
record, exporting of jobs, and
China's less than friendly political
relationship with the USA. The
backlash surprised Cessna and
resulted in a company public
relations campaign to try to explain
the decision from a business
perspective and assure customers
that quality of the aircraft will
not be compromised. The reaction to
the explanations and assurances has
been overwhelmingly negative,
although a small number of customers
have applauded the production in
China.
The
company's business suffered notably
during the Late-2000s recession,
laying off more than half its
workforce between January 2009 and
September 2010. In early 2009 the company
attracted further criticism for
continuing plans to build the 162 in
China while laying off large numbers
of workers in the USA.
On 4
November 2008 Cessna's parent
company, Textron, indicated that
Citation production would be reduced
from the original 2009 target of 535
"due to continued softening in the
global economic environment" and
that this would result in an
undetermined number of lay-offs at
Cessna.
On 8
November 2008, at the AOPA Expo, CEO
Jack Pelton indicated that Cessna
sales of aircraft to individual
buyers had fallen but piston and
turboprop sales to business had not.
"While the economic slowdown has
created a difficult business
environment, we are encouraged by
brisk activity from new and existing
propeller fleet operators placing
almost 200 orders for 2009
production aircraft," Pelton stated.
On 13
November 2008, Cessna announced that
a total of 665 jobs would be cut at
its Wichita and Bend, Oregon plants
starting in January 2009. The Cessna
factory at Independence, Kansas,
which builds the Cessna
piston-engined aircraft and the
Cessna Mustang, was not forecast to
see any lay-offs, but one third of
the workforce at the former Columbia
Aircraft facility in Bend was laid
off. This included 165 of the 460
employees who built the Cessna 350
and 400. The remaining 500 jobs were
eliminated at the main Cessna
Wichita plant.
In January
2009 the company announced 2,000
additional layoffs, bringing the
total to 4,600. The job cuts
included 120 at the Bend, Oregon
facility reducing the plant that
built the Cessna 350 and 400 to
fewer than half the number of
workers that it had when Cessna
bought it. Other cuts included 200
at the Independence, Kansas plant
that builds the single-engined
Cessnas and the Mustang, reducing
that facility to 1,300 workers.
On 29
April 2009 the company announced
that it was suspending the Citation
Columbus program and closing the
Bend, Oregon facility. The Columbus
program was finally cancelled in
early July 2009. The company said
"Upon additional analysis of the
business jet market related to this
product offering, we decided to
formally cancel further development
of the Citation Columbus". With the
350 and 400 production moving to
Kansas, the company indicated that
it would lay off 1,600 more workers,
including the remaining 150
employees at the Bend plant and up
to 700 workers from the Columbus
program.
In
early June 2009 Cessna announced
that it would lay-off an additional
700 salaried employees, bringing the
total number of lay-offs to 7600 or
more than half the company's
workers.
In
December 2009 the company announced
that it will close its three
Columbus, Georgia manufacturing
facilities between June 2010 and
December 2011. The closures will
include the new 100,000-square-foot
(9,300 m2) facility that
was opened in August 2008 at a cost
of US$25M, plus the McCauley
Propeller Systems plant. These
closures will result in total job
losses of 600 in Georgia. Some of
the work will be relocated to
Cessna's Independence, Kansas or
Mexican facilities.
Cessna's parent company Textron
posted a loss of US$8M in the first
quarter of 2010, largely driven by
continuing low sales at Cessna,
which were down 44%. Cessna's
workforce remained 50% laid-off and
CEO Jack Pelton stated that he
expected the recovery to be long and
slow.
In
September 2010 Cessna CEO Jack
Pelton announced a further 700
lay-offs, bringing the total to
8,000 jobs lost. Pelton indicated
this round of layoffs was due to a
"stalled [and] lackluster economy"
and noted that while the number of
orders cancelled for jets has been
decreasing new orders have not met
expectations. Pelton added "our
strategy is to defend and protect
our current markets while investing
in products and services to secure
our future, but we can do this only
if we succeed in restructuring our
processes and reducing our costs."
On 2
May 2011 CEO Jack Pelton retired.
The new CEO, Scott A. Ernest,
started on 31 May 2011. Ernest
joined Textron after 29 years at
GE, where he had most recently
served as vice president and general
manager, global supply chain for GE
Aviation. Ernest previously worked
for Textron CEO Scott Donnelly when
both worked at GE.
In
September 2011 the Federal Aviation
Administration proposed a US$2.4M
fine against the company for its
failure to follow quality assurance
requirements while producing
fiberglass components at its plant
in Chihuahua, Mexico. Excess
humidity meant that the parts did
not cure correctly and quality
assurance did not detect the
problems. The failure to follow
procedures resulted in the
delamination in flight of a 7 ft
(2.1 m) section of one Cessna 400's
wing skin from the spar while the
aircraft was being flown by an FAA
test pilot. The aircraft was landed
safely. The FAA also discovered 82
other aircraft parts that had been
incorrectly made and not detected by
the company's quality assurance. The
investigation resulted in an
emergency airworthiness directive
that affected 13 Cessna 400s.
On 23
March 2012 Cessna announced that it
is pursing building business jets in
China as part of a joint venture
with Aviation Industry Corporation
of China (AVIC). The company stated
that it intends to eventually build
all aircraft models in China, saying
"The agreements together pave the
way for a range of business jets,
utility single-engine turboprops and
single-engine piston aircraft to be
manufactured and certified in
China."
In
late April 2012 the company recalled
laid-off workers and started new
hiring to fill 150 positions in
Wichita as a result of anticipated
increased demand for aircraft
production.
Source:
Wikipedia
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