Monday, April 23, 2012
As Spirit Wichita ramps back up to full production, employees are asked to review the following parking instructions and recommendations.
Entry Points:
Parking:
Recommendations and requirements:
Friday, April 20, 2012
Less than a week after their facility was damaged by the tornado, Spirit AeroSystems is ready to get back to building airplanes. Company leaders say they're looking forward to getting all of their employees back on Monday. Two 737 fuselages are already on rails and ready to be shipped to Seattle this weekend for final assembly.
The word "amazement" is being thrown around a lot at Wichita's largest employer. Recovery efforts have been in full swing since Saturday when an EF-3 tornado made a direct hit on the world's largest tier one supplier of airplane parts.
An army of contractors were called in to help make enough repairs to get the factories functional again and allow nearly 11,000 employees to return to work. Director of 737 final assembly Jim Hans says it's nothing short of miraculous.
"We've made a huge improvement in the facility in the infrastructure of the facility in a short period of time. We just got hit by an EF-3 tornado and we're shipping product three days later," said Hans.
Some repairs are not yet complete, but it's enough to get 737 production work back underway. Roof repairs still need to be made and many buildings have temporary walls and coverings in place to keep them enclosed.
Spirit CEO Jeff Turner says it will take awhile to recover from losing a full week of production. He knows there will be new challenges to come.
"It'll be a little bit chaotic Monday, I'm sure, but it'll be organized chaos," said Turner.
