Kit plane manufacture in OZ

[Aeropup]

Hi from the Aeropup Aircraft Works in SA , with the competition from overseas , the fluctuating dollar, high wages rates , lack of skilled workers due to big money offered by the mining Companys and dealing with a overly burdensome bureaucratic system it means that small companies trying to manufacture quality products in Australia are finding it hard, it's no wonder that so much stuff is made in China ( with often dubious or even dangerous quality ) the Aeropup was originally designed in Australia to be a fully certificated aircraft but we had to stay in the kit build category due to prohibitive costs, not only to certify it but also to manufacture as a fly away aircraft, so whilst we are doing ok and in backorder constantly and just reorganised the factory to speed up production, it is a worrying trend to see our costs going up and margins getting tighter, the answer to this of course is volume production and economies of scale to make things more efficient, unfortunately whilst we get strong interest from oveseas and are exporting some, the costings are such that it is borderline to expand that market without home country support, basically what I am saying is that a culture to support home grown manufacturing needs to develop just as it has in the USA, they always prefer to buy an American product by choice whilst we trend to rely on imports and overlook the Ozzie product which often is better anyway, the comments we have had from overseas indicate that..."it's the strongest airframe for it's class in the world" was a quote from a Canadian who called in and he had been researching kit planes for the last year, I have had many enquiries from overseas who would love to get an Aeropup but put off by the transport and Taxes additions to cost, but with local buying support it can be much more successful so please consider the local product seriously before sending your kids jobs overseas ! 8)

 

 

[djpacro]

I totally agree.

 

I work in the aerospace industry in a company with 99% export income and it is very competitive.

 

Is there an aerobatic variant of the Aeropup?

 

I'd also be interested in getting details of that "overly burdensome bureaucratic system", perhaps I can help.