Citation Longitude To Be Built Alongside King Airs

Textron Aviation’s new Cessna Citation Longitude will be built at the former Beechcraft campus in the same plant that produces Kings Airs, Barons and Bonanzas. The move to build the Longitude on what is now referred to as the “East Campus” in Wichita comes as Textron Aviation further integrates Cessna Aircraft with the Beech assets acquired in March 2014.

“With the acquisition of Beechcraft, we got some really good facilities,” said Dave Rosenberg, v-p of integration and strategy for Textron Aviation. “It’s a case of trying to maximize the company’s footprint. As we look at the capacity at our East and West Campuses…we try to do all this new product development using current facilities and not having to spend additional capital on buildings.”

Longitude final assembly “fits in nicely on the East Campus so that is the path we chose to pursue,” Rosenberg added. The company has been making the minor renovations required for the line and is in the process of adding the appropriate tooling for Longitude final assembly at Plant IV.

The moves are part of a number of changes that have been under way at the East Campus as part of the integration, including moving Longitude engineering into Plant III. Half of Plant III was modified to support both the engineering and development of the first Longitude “test assets” for the flight-test program “We invested quite a bit getting that experimental flight capability up and running,” he said.

Incorporating Composites Expertise

The other half of Plant III has become a Composites “Center of Excellence,” enabling Textron Aviation to tap into the composite technology that came with Beechcraft.

“As we go forward on new jets we will be using composites more in the structures,” Rosenberg said. “At this time we’re not looking at doing a fully new composite airplane. But still we need that composites capability because we use it for a lot of structures in our aircraft.”

Textron Aviation inherited two Cincinnati Viper composite fiber placement systems that are still used for composite testing and experimental work, the company said. The testing and composites development are being considered throughout the Beechcraft and Cessna product lines, along with Textron Airland’s light attack and ISR aircraft, the Scorpion. “That facility can be used for the Scorpion in terms of composite capability,” he said, stressing that the Composites COE is dedicated “for all of Textron Aviation.”

Other changes under way include the consolidation of fabrication work throughout Textron Aviation at its Wichita Pawnee facility, which was a former Cessna Aircraft site. Fabrication work currently conducted in Plant I will shift to Pawnee over the next year.

Along with the work, fabrication workers will shift to Pawnee as well, Rosenberg confirmed. “We have a great relationship with our union,” he said. “And we have a flexible contract that allows us to move our workforces within our different facilities.”

As fabrication shifts from Plant I, the facility will be used for further experimental/engineering work. “As we’re continuing to expand our engineering capabilities, we have facilities requirements,” Rosenberg said, noting that Plant I and a nearby facility can handle overflow work.

Also, taking a page out of traditional Cessna practices, Textron Aviation is transforming a production warehouse and training/IT center at the East Campus into an aftermarket product distribution center. Cessna kept its parts distribution warehouses right next to the factory, while Beechcraft had its distribution warehouse for aftermarket parts in Dallas.

“This is an example how we went through best practices of both companies in the integration,” he said. “Cessna’s philosophy allows us to get parts to customers more quickly. You have cargo operations, FedEx, right here at Wichita Airport that can get the products to anywhere in the world. But by having the parts distribution warehouse here, we give ourselves a couple of extra hours each night to finish a part that may be for an AOG.”

The company is developing the warehouses to move “what was essentially an outsourced function in Dallas and insource it at the East Campus,” he said. Textron does not provide specifics of the investment required for these changes, Rosenberg said, nor is it ready to reveal any potential new hiring requirements. “Over time there will be potentially some additional hiring for the manufacturing lines as we start getting spooled up,” he said.

Engineering resources are continually shifted, Rosenberg said, which keeps the staff busy but reduces the need for immediate hiring. “We have a really great product development process here at Textron Aviation,” he said. “We have our advance design team first work on the product and then it moves over to the jet product team. With the completion of the Latitude, we moved a lot of engineers from the Latitude to the Longitude program.” The process will repeat as Longitude engineers move to the Hemisphere program, he said.

While the Longitude is being set up at the East Campus, no decisions have been made about future programs, such as the Hemisphere or the single-engine turboprop that Textron Aviation is beginning to outline.

But Rosenberg believes the company can absorb the additional work without new facilities. “A lot of times you can increase your capacity by running additional shifts,” he said. “We have the capacity necessary to meet market demand as it exists today and can also grow as market conditions warrant.”

While the locations of future products remain under evaluation, Textron Aviation has decided to keep its existing product lines intact. “Every single product is being built at the exact…location today where it was before the integration took place. And that’s true for both Cessna and Beechcraft,” he said, adding, “We’re comfortable now with the locations of all the products and just really focused on our future products and where they are going to go.”

Rosenberg credits the new unified labor contract reached in late October 2014 for smoothing the transition processes. “One of the key milestones was getting one labor contract with our unions because that does allow us to freely move our employees throughout our campuses,” he said. “We’re continuing to invest in our current facilities and trying to maximize utilization of that so all of our dollars are going into the engineering of new products. We’re continuing to focus on that.”