Plane Success
Cessna marks 20 years of Quick Start partnership
It’s 6:30 a.m., and Quick Start’s Columbus office is buzzing. And thumping. And hissing. The 15 Cessna employees who are hard at work have only been employed by the company for a week and a half, so they don’t realize that the Quick Start sheet metal assembly class they’re taking makes them part of a 20-year tradition. That’s how long Cessna and Quick Start have worked together to ensure the Kansas-based aircraft manufacturer’s Columbus employees are top-flight.
Most of them also don’t realize that some of their instructors once stood exactly where they are now.
“Ten years ago, my dad and I both came through this very same program,” says Gary Goodson, Cessna associate training coordinator. “Six months after I graduated from here, I was the lead person in my area. Now I’m a member of the human resources team, and Quick Start gave me my start.”
Quick Start’s relationship with Cessna actually goes back to 1988 when the company was operating in its current facility under the name of Cessna’s parent company, Textron. Cessna took over operations in 1996, and today, employees here manufacture parts and assemblies for a number of aircraft produced at the company’s Kansas facilities. They also make high-quality propellers under the brand McCauley Propeller Systems.
In the past two decades, Quick Start has seen the company through several expansions. Today Cessna is expanding again and will be adding about 200 new employees.
“You guys helped put us on the map,” says Cessna General Manager Seerley Lowery. “We’ve gone from 65 employees in 1996 to more than 600 today, and we didn’t get here without partners like Quick Start.”
Cleared for takeoff
Located just across the street from Quick Start’s Columbus office, Cessna’s Georgia facility turns out more than 3,500 propellers and nearly two million other parts for Cessna aircraft annually.
Walking through the fabrication and assembly areas, Cessna Training Coordinator Henry Klepper points out recent graduates from Quick Start’s sheet metal assembly class.
“Quick Start training makes a big difference in their performance,” Klepper says. “It really shortens their learning curve when they get into the plant.”
That shorter learning curve is important because demand for the company’s business jets is increasing. The company plans to ramp up its production of Mustang jets from 48 in 2007 to 100 in 2008.
Full throttle
As the company continues to grow, the employees and their training will also be moving to a higher level, says Steve Sucher, Cessna human resources manager. “We’re being given a chance to do things for the company that are more complicated — fabricating more parts and upgrading to more technical equipment,” he says. “The increased skill level translates into more job security for our employees — it’s a very encouraging vote of confidence from the home office.”
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