Fly the Lead-y Skies: Textron to Make Cessna Plane in China

In light of the slew of reports of tainted, defective and downright deadly products coming from China, it frightens me to read in today's Wall Street Journal that Textron Inc.'s Cessna Aircraft Company will become the first U.S. manufacturer to turn over complete production of an airplane to a Chinese partner.

Earlier this month (November 8), you read a list of "Made in China" product recalls: From sunglasses to lawn mowers to power adapters, it appears that manufacturing in China is sufficiently suspect to cause me to doubt China's suitability to build highly sophisticated machinery like, oh, AIRPLANES...

"If you are going to field a low-end product, this is about the only way you can do it," commented Cessna President Jack Pelton, referring to the agreement under which China's state-owned Shenyang Aircraft Corporation will build the new Cessna 162 SkyCatcher.

This plan disturbs me on many levels:

1) When it comes to manufacturing, quality control and production of highly sophisticated machinery (like, oh, airplanes), China's track record is simply not encouraging. Answer this question: Would you feel confident flying--much less breathing--in a plane that was "Made In China"?

2) Textron makes vehicles for the U.S. Military; while I know the company has divisions that are run as entirely separate companies, China has a rich history of subtly and gradually penetrating American organizations and gaining access to sensitive information. Whereas we think in terms of hundreds of years, China thinks of thousands of years. I'm not saying China will gain access to sensitive information; I'm merely suggesting that they have done so in the past--and not just with American organizations and companies.

3) From a PR perspective, this is a pretty sizable faux pas. If I were working for Textron (and believe me, I have tried to), I would in the very least have coached Mr. Pelton to address the concerns Americans have regarding China's unreliable manufacturing and quality control record.

I especially don't like his aforementioned quotation. "Low-end products" suggest shoddy workmanship, mass production, and poor quality control. I certainly would not refer to my company's products as "low-end."

But I don't think this is a PR issue. I think it's a safety issue. At this point in time, given China's manufacturing and production track record, I believe Americans would be concerned if they knew that the plane in which they were flying was made in China.