Story ID: 330
Textron Aviation Opens Expanded Parts Distribution Center
By: Hanneke Weitering
Caption: The Wichita facility stocks 150,000 unique parts
Word Count: 264
Textron Aviation this week held the grand opening of its expanded global parts distribution center in Wichita With an additional 180,000 sq ft of floor space and state-of-the-art package sorting facilities, the company says it will be able to store more airplane parts and ship them to customers faster. 
“Being centrally located in the United States, we can pretty much ship a part overnight and have it to a customer first thing in the morning as long as the order comes in before 6 p.m. the day before,” Brad White, Textron Aviation’s senior vice president of global parts distribution and programs, told reporters during a tour of the facility on Wednesday.
Also known as P43, the expanded facility now covers a total of 245,000 sq ft and stocks around 150,000 active part numbers for new and existing models of Cessna, Beechcraft, and Hawker aircraft. It ships the parts to more than 170 countries, and the company has satellite warehouses and operations around the world. Textron Aviation’s aftermarket business accounts for one-third of the company’s total revenues. 
“We were running our warehouse out of potentially five different buildings here within Wichita, and we were able to consolidate all of that into one single footprint here,” White said. “That was important for us not only for efficiency…but it was a kind of a multifunctional facility strategy where we now can repurpose those other buildings for other needs that the company has,” such as the new hiring and learning center on its East Wichita campus, he added.