A worker helps assemble a chopper at Robinson Helicopter Co. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) |
Robinson Helicopter Co., the nation's leading maker of commercial helicopters, said it churned out 356 choppers last year, which is more than double 2010's production of 162.
The company’s helicopters are used in a wide variety of occupations, including television news operations, police departments and banks transporting money between branches.
Robinson manufactures more civilian choppers than any other helicopter maker in the world, building the two-seat R-22, the four-seat R-44 and the new five-seat R-66 at its complex in Torrance.
The increase in production is welcome news for Robinson, which struggled during the recession as customers cut back orders and saw financing for the purchase of new helicopters all but dry up.
When Robinson revealed that it made just 162 choppers in 2010, it was a stunning reversal of fortune for a company that built 893 aircraft at its peak just two years earlier.
In 2011, Robinson said it made a total of 88 R-66s, 212 R44s and 56 R22s.
Because the company is privately held, little public information is available about its finances. But Dun & Bradstreet Inc. estimated its 2011 sales at $77 million.
Crucial to Robinson's recovery has been its newest helicopter, the jet-powered R-66. It is by far the company's most technologically advanced rotorcraft, capable of flying faster, higher and with more people and cargo than anything it has ever built.
Production on the R-66 prompted Robinson to last year expand its factory, which now hugs almost half a mile of runway at the east end of Torrance Municipal Airport. At the plant, workers build helicopters in assembly lines from scratch, making nearly all parts in-house.
Robinson said that it is entering 2012 with a backlog of more than 400 aircraft.
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