Industry Veteran With 36 Years Aviation Experience

Piper Aircraft is continuing to re-align its management structure, naming Simon Caldecott vice president of Operations, responsible for Manufacturing Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, Sustaining Engineering and Supply Chain. He reports to CEO Geoffrey Berger.

"Simon has an extensive track record of success in guiding cultural change within sophisticated manufacturing organizations," Berger said in announcing the move Monday. "We are delighted that he was available within Piper's leadership ranks to head an expanded Operations organization in a dynamic period for the company as we gear up for production of the single-engine PiperJet Altaire, very recently introduced to the marketplace."

With more than 36 years in aviation, Caldecott is a seasoned operations and manufacturing executive with international experience at the senior level in Europe and the United States. Joining Piper in 2009 as chief of Production for Piper's new jet, he was extensively involved in preliminary design and manufacturing processes.

Prior to Piper, Caldecott was vice president Assembly Integration and Testing with Raytheon Aircraft and more recently vice president assembly operations with that company's successor Hawker Beechcraft. Simon is a Green Belt in the Six Sigma process improvement program. His education includes studies in Aeronautical Engineering in Wales, and programs in Business Management at the London School of Business and the Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Caldecott worked as a design engineer for British Aerospace on development of the Hawker mid-size business jet, rising to be responsible for manufacturing, assembly, flight testing and completion of Hawkers. He also completed Lean Training with Kawasaki, which included touring Japanese manufacturing facilities to better understand how Lean is successfully applied across products from automotive to aerospace.

FMI: www.piper.com