New Piper demotes Suma

[john smith]

Has anyone heard any more that what AvWeb has reported about New Piper
dumping Charles Suma as company president?

[Jay Honeck]

> Has anyone heard any more that what AvWeb has reported about New Piper
> dumping Charles Suma as company president?

There's been a lot of talk over on the Cherokee Chat about Suma's
(That's the Cherokee Pilots Association's on-line chat page, at
www.piperowner.com) demotion. Chuck was the keynote speaker at our CPA
fly-in/convention this year, and he seemed like a very down-to-earth
guy.

I must admit I questioned his grasp of the competitive situation, when
he dismissed Cirris and Lancair as "plastic airplanes" -- but, for the
most part, I admire a guy that can take a company from $2K in the bank
(which is what New Piper had when he took over) to profitability, and
$56 million in sales.

It seems the consensus of the Cherokee group is that Piper's owners got
tired of waiting for the return on their investment, and are going to
start shifting production to Mexico.

Interestingly, New Piper just signed new contracts with the union, from
whence Suma came. I wonder if what he signed with them ****ed off the
board of directors?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Matt Whiting]

Jay Honeck wrote:

>>Has anyone heard any more that what AvWeb has reported about New Piper
>>dumping Charles Suma as company president?
>
>
> There's been a lot of talk over on the Cherokee Chat about Suma's
> (That's the Cherokee Pilots Association's on-line chat page, at
> www.piperowner.com) demotion. Chuck was the keynote speaker at our CPA
> fly-in/convention this year, and he seemed like a very down-to-earth
> guy.
>
> I must admit I questioned his grasp of the competitive situation, when
> he dismissed Cirris and Lancair as "plastic airplanes" -- but, for the
> most part, I admire a guy that can take a company from $2K in the bank
> (which is what New Piper had when he took over) to profitability, and
> $56 million in sales.

One blurb I read suggested that Piper wasn't profitable and that was the
problem. Were they profitable of late?

Matt

[Jay Honeck]

>> I must admit I questioned his grasp of the competitive situation, when
>> he dismissed Cirris and Lancair as "plastic airplanes" -- but, for the
>> most part, I admire a guy that can take a company from $2K in the bank
>> (which is what New Piper had when he took over) to profitability, and
>> $56 million in sales.
>
> One blurb I read suggested that Piper wasn't profitable and that was the
> problem. Were they profitable of late?

They were in the black until the hurricane wiped them out. They were
literally without a roof over their head for some time, and moved production
back into the older, smaller brick buildings -- interestingly enough, where
the old Cherokee line was built back in the '60s and '70s. Being brick, it
survived the hurricane, whereas the newer, sheet metal buildings did not.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[[email protected]]

Jay Honeck wrote:
> > Has anyone heard any more that what AvWeb has reported about New Piper
> > dumping Charles Suma as company president?
>
> There's been a lot of talk over on the Cherokee Chat about Suma's
> (That's the Cherokee Pilots Association's on-line chat page, at
> www.piperowner.com) demotion. Chuck was the keynote speaker at our CPA
> fly-in/convention this year, and he seemed like a very down-to-earth
> guy.
>
> I must admit I questioned his grasp of the competitive situation, when
> he dismissed Cirris and Lancair as "plastic airplanes" -- but, for the
> most part, I admire a guy that can take a company from $2K in the bank
> (which is what New Piper had when he took over) to profitability, and
> $56 million in sales.

When the competition has a plane that goes >10kts faster on the same
engine, without tucking in the gear, and includes CAPS for the same
price, you've been lapped. My guess is that the investors saw the
writing on the wall that they're way behind the power curve and not
going to catch up to Lancair and Cirrus, so they might as well
concentrate on doing what they do cheaper.

-cwk.