"Blue Marlin" and "Thunderbird" Make Their Way to Customers

German LSA replica manufacturer Scalewings completed two more examples of their SW-51 Mustang, shipping them off to customers in South Africa and Texas.

The team is looking forward to the exhibition circuit this year, coming hot off the heels of expansions to their production facility. Scalewings highlighted some of their recent investments into the improved throughput, hopefully ready to cash in on fresh orders at next month's Sun 'n Fun. "Since late 2022," the company said in a recent update, "we invested great amounts of time and capital into creating a next-level production output to match the high demand of the aircraft. We knew this would not be an easy task, understanding that it was at this pivotal moment where too many manufacturers before us had failed. In many ways, succeeding in high volume production can be harder than creating the product itself."

That effort bore fruit, since they have now established and standardized their targeted production output of "one new Build-Assist Ready-to-Fly aircraft every 4-6 weeks." Scalewings credits an expansion to their workforce and more "industrialized production flows," things fairly apparent from a peek behind the corporate curtain. The Scalewings production line looks the part now, showing multiple aircraft in various states of completion with busy workers humming about their designated areas. In the world of GA aircraft that may not be too unorthodox, but in the oftentimes ramshackle world of light-sports it's a nicely polished change of pace.

"Today, we are thrilled to have united a true "A-team" of 72 high performers, combining vastly complementary skillsets and experiences," said the firm. "Our teamwork and support for mutual growth is contagious and boosts our productivity and Joy of Doing. We are aware of our responsibility in creating something of high relevance to the Aviation space, which in turn is driving our everyday devotion to excel on this mission."

"As a second biggest driver of speed, we created new management pillars and spend countless hours defining, testing, refining and streamlining our in-house as well as outsourced production processes. The fruits of this labor have taken us from a "one-by-one" aircraft production to an industrialized method of manufacturing, now creating multiple aircraft in parallel throughout the different stations of the build process."

FMI: www.scalewings.com