futurethink
Well-Known Member
I was looking through the Kitplanes website recently and some builders threads as well. Each aircraft is either hand built or built from materials or parts supplied from the factory - wings, fuselage etc.
Given the high cost of these components and also the tooling and factory space redundancy, what if the components were made to spec in in one large factory? Work would be constant, and standards could be kept high.
For example, one builder may want wings for plane X and another builder may need a fuselage for plane Y and so on, if the blueprints are shipped out maybe the parts could be built and shipped in?
One possible objection is the cost of labor, but the company building the kit plane could simply subcontract out the relevant parts to the Component Factory and then ship them to the user.
Has anyone tried this idea?
I hope someone makes this a reality - it might make building kit built aircraft so much easier. Maybe. I don't know.
Will I ever build a kit plane? No, but I would sure like to be part of the design team. That is where I stand.
Given the high cost of these components and also the tooling and factory space redundancy, what if the components were made to spec in in one large factory? Work would be constant, and standards could be kept high.
For example, one builder may want wings for plane X and another builder may need a fuselage for plane Y and so on, if the blueprints are shipped out maybe the parts could be built and shipped in?
One possible objection is the cost of labor, but the company building the kit plane could simply subcontract out the relevant parts to the Component Factory and then ship them to the user.
Has anyone tried this idea?
I hope someone makes this a reality - it might make building kit built aircraft so much easier. Maybe. I don't know.
Will I ever build a kit plane? No, but I would sure like to be part of the design team. That is where I stand.