Extra Room, Double Capacity

The Lancair Company's $2.5 million, 40,000 square foot facilities expansion program is nearing its first milestone. Lancair expects to bring a new composites oven on line at the end of March that will double production capacity of composite aircraft components. The new oven is only the beginning of what is Lancair's first major facilities expansion. When it is completed at the end of 2004, The Lancair's Bend (OR) headquarters will have gained nearly 30 percent more floor space, doubled its capacity to create the core composite building blocks of its Columbia certified aircraft line and added a new special order department that will provide aftermarket modifications to customer aircraft.

"As our production rate accelerated last year, we quickly began wanting more room," Lancair President Bing Lantis said. "The additional space will allow us to add some new equipment as well as refine our production process. Ultimately, we'll produce more aircraft more efficiently while maintaining our extremely high quality levels."

In addition to the added space and equipment, the Lancair Company has also been working with an industrial engineering firm with specialists in composites manufacturing, analyzing and refining its aircraft manufacturing process. The firm, Technical Change Associates, and Lancair's manufacturing officials have implemented a number of improvements in the Columbia's production process, reducing parts handling in support of composite production and assembly by 65 percent, among other advances.

The additional space and streamlined production practices will all add up to an increase of Lancair's production rate from one aircraft every two days today to one aircraft every business day by year-end. This increase in production rate is growing increasingly important. Lancair's production line will soon have to accommodate the company's new turbocharged Columbia 400 model as well as the normally aspirated Columbia 350.

"The Columbia 400 program is nearly complete and we will begin delivering that model very shortly after we receive certification," Lantis added. "The addition of a second model to the production line made this expansion an absolute necessity. We're very excited to be getting it completed."

FMI: www.lancair.com