Cessna outsourcing?

[Zaffex]

Hhmmmm... first I hear that they're aquiring Columbia, now this. Cessna seems to be getting a little weird lately.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119621169217505989.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://cessna.com/news/article.chtml?ID=Xdg9EKUhsb1cI57ikmmGK7x13mhGGCol9paNMmg7MllCu8ZuHg

[spacer]

Not really. It's just the market at work, trying to get around way overpriced labor and over-regulation here in the States.
If the unions and the bureaucrats had their way, nobody but the high elite would be able to fly anything at all.

[Rooster Cruiser]

Keep in mind that China is THE aviation market for the forseeable future.  They are hiring pilots from all over the world to fly their airliners in China while they attempt to train as many pilots as they can both in China and abroad.  With a huge demand for pilots, Cessna is being smart by going to China to produce their LSA where they can sell as many as they can to upstart flight schools and flying clubs in China itself.  This way they do not have to worry about import tarrifs or other restrictions.  Plus, if they didn't do this, the Chinese would probably certify and build their own design anyway.  If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Smart move on their part.

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A lot of isolationist/protectionist types seem to forget, while they're whining about Toyota/Honda/etc. having plants in the U.S., that
Cessna is doing the same thing in China. To hear 'em talk, the foreign car companies are over here sapping labor capacity and keeping all the
corporate profits overseas.
Of course, anyone with any familiarity with economics knows better.

Remember, FDR illustrated the protectionist ideal in the '30s... prolonging the Depression considerably.

[airtac]

Not really. It's just the market at work, trying to get around way overpriced labor and over-regulation here in the States.
If the unions and the bureaucrats had their way, nobody but the high elite would be able to fly anything at all.

Sorry, but "overpriced labor" in the US is not the problem---liability suits, lawyers, insurance costs, and corporate compensation ("golden parachute" retirement packages for example) are the main culprit.  
The very idea of union labor being responsible for high prices is hogwash, the unions do have some instances excess but for the majority of working people, the union has been the only guarantee of a fair wage.  US laborers have some of the highest productivity in the world and the companies that fairly compensate them without union representation (Google for instance) are sadly in the minority.
Another factor is the low compensation of foreign workers who have no representation.  Would YOU like to have the same living standard of the average Chinese or Indian laborer-- I'd bet not!  I suppose some folks feel that employees (the people that are responsible for profit) should all be earning 12 bucks an hour--try buying an airplane on that!
The anti union diatribe is promoted by right-to-work states who have among their wonderful examples of unfair pay such companies as Wal Mart and I don't need to tell you how badly they treat their employees, because it's in the news almost every day!
Corporate greed and liability are the main factors here followed closely by bureaucratic red tape.
Of course, this is only my opinion and I draw a nice retirement (which I paid into as a part of my wage package) from the Teamsters Union.  The Companies I worked for earned very nice profits on my labor and I EARNED my retirement pay!
The labor YOU put out for your employer is what earns them the profit to live well---they deserve to profit and you deserve to be paid well for earning them the profit. <insert soap box smiley>

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Hey. I can only speak from experience. My wife is an assistant director in labor relations at a VA hospital, and I've worked in several fields where my life
was actually threatened if I didn't join the union.
Sorry, I'm sure it started with the best of intentions, but I don't take that sort of crap lightly, and I know the kind of stuff the fed employees union
supports. No thanks.
In nations where wages suck, lack of unions is not the only factor. Lack of a real free market is probably the biggest.

I'm done with this, now... if you'd like to discuss it further, I do most of my political chat at the Get Your Hands Dirty board. Beyond an occasional statement, I'll
leave the actual debates to those boards.

[airtac]

HEY BACK---let's not get our feathers ruffled (easy to do on a chicken forum)

[Frank N. O.]

I saw another place that the Columbia's will be called Cessna 350 and 400 now. The speaks of unions did remind me of another thing I should check if I'm going to be a pilot but that's for another thread. I'm wondering though, the Get Your Hands Dirty forum, what's that? The AOPA one?

Frank

[Ragwing]

A few years ago, I worked at final assembly and we had to rework every single part that was manufactured in China.
Of course, maybe we were too picky.  We wanted the bolt holes to line up.

[airtac]

A few years ago, I worked at final assembly and we had to rework every single part that was manufactured in China.
Of course, maybe we were too picky.  We wanted the bolt holes to line up.

Bolt holes that line up   picky,pickypicky