One of the hopes of the Sparrowhawk was presumably to significantly reduce
the amount of labor involved. Of the 10 production run modern gliders
I'm aware of, the Sparrowhawk seems to most significantly contrast
the time-honored build process of other gliders, like the SZD 55-1 .
Which is why I'm surprised that the Sparrowhawk price
has increased (not decreased) so much since Serial # 1.
Eric Greenwell's article seemed to indicate
production on the order of weeks, certainly not the 1400 man-hours
described here. Do the materials really cost 40% more than they did
several years ago or is this a labor cost increase, or is it
payments on sunk engineering costs?
One wonders what would happen if the Sparrowhawk construction concept
were adopted in a country with very low labor costs. Perhaps a
(strange) side benefit may be that US certification of a Polish
Sparrowhawk might be easier than doing the same thing inside the US.
Uniting low cost (overseas) labor with excellent innovation.
Van's does this for its quickbuild kits, apparently with good commercial
success. I'd love to see what SZD would do, in terms of price,
producing a Sparrowhawk... Maybe an idea for the next World Class?
I'm astonished that the 55-1 takes 1400 man-hours to built.
I had absolutely no idea it was that consumptive...
In article ,
Janusz Kesik wrote:
I don't care such comments, and well, the most funny is that I wouldn't have
noticed that post, if someone hasn't commented that. It looks like this guy
has withdrawn his 'not so nice' posting from the server sooner than I did
retrieved fresh postings from my news server. Anyway, thanks for the support
for all of You my gliding friends.
Finally, as asked I feel obliged to deliver the final reply that the total
working hours involved in complete (from the first minute of work, to the
very end of finish) in case of production of the SZD-55, total at 1400
hours. So, well... it's a huge amount, and the lower cost of labour helps so
much indeed to keep it's price still 4500Euros lower than the *predicted*
price of the LS-4 which is going to re-enter production according to the
news I have red on the R.A.S.
With kindest regards,
--
Janusz Kesik
Poland
to reply put my name.surname[at]gazeta.pl
-------------------------------------
See Wroclaw (Breslau) in photography,
The XIX Century, the Festung Breslau, and photos taken today.
http://www.wroclaw.dolny.slask.pl
Użytkownik "Ed Byars" napisał w wiadomości
...
Janusz:
Thank you for your continued input. Your contributions to this thread are
appreciated. Please ignore the "Ugly American" comment (if it was an
American). I guess all countries have a few rude and inconsiderate types,
even in the soaring fraternity.
Ed Byars
--
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Mark J. Boyd