WICHITA—Textron Aviation celebrated the opening of its expanded and revamped Global Parts Distribution facility at its Wichita headquarters, which adds 180,000 ft.² of space and boosts customer service.
In a $20 million investment, the company began construction on its west Wichita campus in October 2022. It celebrated the site’s grand opening on April 30. The expanded facility, now a total of 245,000 ft.², includes seven additional docks and stocks 150,000 unique part numbers. The company ships to more than 170 countries with faster turnaround times. The site supports in-production and out-of-production models of Cessna, Hawker and Beechcraft aircraft.
“Adding 180,000 square feet to our headquarter facility provides expedited support to our customers around the globe and continues our investment in parts inventory,” says Brad White, Textron Aviation Global Parts and Distribution senior vice president.
Having parts support readily available is critical in keeping customers flying. About 20% of Textron Aviation revenue comes from its aftermarket business. The Wichita parts facility is a piece of Textron Aviation’s global network of seven parts distribution centers and 17 stockrooms around the world.
The expanded facility consolidates five warehouses in east and west Wichita into one location. Employees once drove 40,000 mi per year driving back and forth across town to collect parts.
The former facility on the former Beechcraft campus in east Wichita is now under renovation for use as Textron Aviation’s new training and talent center, which consolidates human resources and employee training.
The newly expanded parts facility, adjacent to Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, expedites shipping time to customers.
It has one of the last pickup times of the day for FedEx globally to accommodate late packages, although carrier pickups occur throughout the day from 2 a.m. until 10 p.m.
“We’re all about speed,” says Steve Hanson, Textron Aviation director of distribution operations. “But we’re also about time of day. The customer activity really picks up in the afternoon.”
The facility also includes a new and dedicated lane for customers to drop off or pick up parts in person, if they wish.
The site was designed after benchmarking other companies for best practices and after seeking input from current employees.
“A lot of what you see here came from our employees,” Hanson says. “While we were doing the architectural renderings of planning, we did round tables, town halls. We had flip charts all over the warehouses with ideas. We had about 130 submissions altogether. We put about 70% of them into place.”
Ideas included suggestions on efficiency and flow, safety, ergonomics, employee amenities, customer satisfaction and more.
Some suggestions were simple but effective. For example, vehicles moving around the warehouse are equipped with blue lights that shine on the floor as they travel.
“You see a blue light on the floor, it means, ‘Hey, there’s a vehicle,’” Hanson says. “It sounds simple, but it’s really handy.”
The site also includes room to expand.
“We’re trying to think a couple of decades into the future—not just the next five-to-10 years,” Hanson says.
