The Lancair Company today announced a $2.5 million facilities expansion plan that will increase production capacity and rate at the company’s Bend, Oregon manufacturing plant.

The expansion, which is already underway, will add approximately 40,000 square feet to the facility’s existing 140,000 square feet. The increased floor space will facilitate refinement of the company’s manufacturing process. One benefit will be increased manufacturing efficiency achieved through reducing materials handling time by more than 70%.

“The facility expansion will allow us to continue to perfect our production process,” said Lancair President Bing Lantis. “Ultimately we’ll be able to do more with less people while maintaining our extremely high quality standards.”

The ultimate benefit of the expansion program will be an increase in The Lancair Company’s production capacity allowing the company to accelerate to one aircraft per day. The expansion will also allow for parallel production of the Columbia 350 and 400 models as well as the possibility of additional models in the future.

“This is exhilarating for us and our customers,” Lantis continued.

“We’re delivering aircraft at an everincreasing rate and we’re making significant capital investments to position ourselves for the future. It’s a very exciting time at The Lancair Company – a time greatly anticipated by thousands in the general aviation community.”

Lancair is implementing the expansion program in a series of stages and plans to complete the entire project by the end of the second quarter of 2004.

Founded in 1995, The Lancair Company manufactures the Columbia line of all-composite, high performance certified aircraft. Based in Bend, Oregon, the company is currently delivering the all-electric, normally aspirated Columbia 350. The Lancair Company is also in the process of certifying a turbocharged version of the Columbia dubbed the Columbia 400.

FMI: www.lancair.com