INTELLIGENCE

摘要

ACCORDING TO RON DRAPER, Textron Aviation's new president and CEO, the company hired 1,000 employees in 2018 and plans to hire another 1,000 again this year. "We're staffing up," he said. Draper told 400 customers and 200 suppliers attending its Textron Aviation's recent Customer Conference in Wichita, Kansas, that "2018 was a better year for us." In fact, he said, it was the company's strongest year since the economic collapse in 2008. "It felt good to have a little bit of economic tailwind," he said, adding that 2019 was off "to a pretty good start."Drapertook over as president and CEO last October following the departure of Scott Ernest, who left to lead the company's Textron Systems division. Draper has kept a low profile with the media since the change. An Idaho farm boy, Draper graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and flew Huey H-1 and Black Hawk helicopters. Upon leading the Army, he joined Cessna Aircraft. He then had stints at Textron subsidiaries Bell and EZ Go before coming back to Wichita to rejoin Cessna in 2011, where he led its operations and supply chain. "I fell in love with this company," Draper said. Some of the employees hired last year replaced those who retired or left. But most of the hiring was to keep up with growth, Draper said. The company currently employs about 9,500 in Wichita. The Citation Longitude is "a little bit late" in getting to market, he noted. The aircraft received provisional certification in December and now the company is "wrestling with all the paperwork" and with some of the FAA's new design assurances processes that have been put in place on the aircraft, he said. The goal is to complete the work in the second quarter. In the meantime, about 200 engineers are working on the Sky Courier twin turboprop utility aircraft and the Denali, a single-engine turboprop. More engineers will move to the programs once Longitude deliveries begin. Going forward, Textron will continue with product development, but it is going to be "a little more balanced" as it invests in current products, with software updates and other enhancements, Draper said. Textron Aviation delivered 44 business jets during the first three months of 2019, up from 36 a year earlier, and 44 commercial turboprops, up from 29 last year.