The idea
of moving away from one-piece flow assembly line manufacturing to team manufacturing makes very
little sense to me in the context of manufacturing single-engine airplanes. This is the case for
a number of reasons:
First, for manufacturing at the scale that Cessna
intends to for single-engine aircraft, precision is paramount. Minimizing and avoiding defects
should be the number-one priority as an aircraft manufacturer; utilizing team manufacturing
introduces variability and, subsequently, the possibility for defects.
Second, the operation is moving two hours from Cessna headquarters, thus either
requiring Cessna-trained engineers or technicians to move from Wichita to Independence, making
hiring and retaining the talent necessary to be successful in team manufacturing
difficult.
Third, it is questionable that team-based manufacturing will be
faster or more efficient than assembly line manufacturing. That said, I think there are other
places that a team structure will be beneficial...
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