Sun, Feb 08, 2009
Production Days To Be Scheduled To Meet Weekly Demand
Cirrus Design Corporation last week advised employees of the
Minnesota-based planemaker that due to continuing slow sales to
expect production reductions -- by scheduling fewer production
days -- to keep pace with lower production demand.
"We will need to tune our production rate down to the level of
demand," Ian Bentley, Cirrus' vice president of products and
services, told the Duluth News-Tribune. But we expect this to be a
relatively short-term thing. We already see signs that our order
pipeline is starting to fill. It's just filling up slower than we
had hoped."
Bentley said there has been an uptick in marketing response, an
encouraging sign in view of sagging sales numbers, increased by the
company's recent introduction of new features and options to its
product line.
A new marketing initiative - called Flying 2.0 - is also
credited with boosting interest, Bentley said. Reaching out to
businesses and individuals alike, the sales campaign promotes the
benefits of private versus commercial aviation and encourages
aircraft ownership.
To minimize the economic impact on its employees already laid
off, Cirrus is taking steps
typically unheard of in a furlough situation.
Medical and other key benefits will continue to be paid by Cirrus
for its affected employees. Additionally, Cirrus is coordinating
with state government offices regarding available programs to
supplement traditional compensation benefits for its employees.
Cirrus' vice president of business administration Bill King
reaffirmed the company had no plans to reduce the numbers of
employees. "We can't afford to lose our talent pool," he said.
"That's why we need to respond in a very thoughtful way, so we
don't lose people who are part of our core team."
"We're really down to the point where anything we do would mean
carving into muscle, not just a little bit but a lot," King said.
"We need to be careful and avoid any further staffing cuts to the
extent that we can. The reality is that our success will be
measured by whether we are able to produce airplanes profitably at
smaller volumes."
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