When Mr. Piper introduced the Piper Cub in 1937, he had a dream. He felt that everyone should fly. And he believed that Piper could provide everyone with that freedom.
Piper Aircraft, Inc., is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Municipal Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the government of Brunei. Along with Beechcraft and Cessna, it was at one time considered one of the “Big Three” in the field of general aviation manufacturing.
A History of Piper Aircraft
The company was originally founded as the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company in September 1927 by Clarence Gilbert Taylor and Gordon A. Taylor in Rochester, New York. The company was renamed Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation in April 1928, shortly before Gordon Taylor died in an aircraft accident on April 24, 1928. The company was enticed to move to Bradford, Pennsylvania, with the promise of larger facility and investment capital from local businessmen, including an initial investment of $400 from local oil industry engineer William T. Piper. The move was completed in September 1929.
Between its founding in 1927 and the end of 2009, the company produced 144,000 aircraft in 160 certified models, of which 90,000 are still flying.
Before you take to the skies, watch this video on how a Piper is made.
Thank you for the invitation to visit the Piper factory. As I have studied aircraft manufacturing technology in college, it is always a pleasure to see how they make the Piper Aircrafts today.
However, I have to say that I am not impressed with the facility organisation. This plant does not look much different than when you look at aircraft manufacturing videos on World War 2 airplanes (with a much smaller production output at Piper). And a commenter on the YouTube channel where this video is available, Sassy Hershey, commented that the plant has not changed much since his last visit in 1963.
I would really like to see a plant like this one with more 5S, with a better organized production flow and many more of the good principles of lean manufacturing. I find that the appearance of the factory is way too much artisanal and production would benefit greatly from a factory redesign program which would increase product manufacturing and reduce production costs.
I think the cable routing boards are a good use of mistake proofing to reduce wire routing errors. There is also single piece flow for each aircraft, which is a good thing.
For those that watched the video, what other improvements do you think could be made at this facility? Jacques already mentioned 5S…