Production Costs of Sailplanes
Pilots send us questions from all over the world via the internet and many of which have the following theme:
"Why do you build gliders which are so expensive as a direct result of their excellence?
Build a simple glider with, for example, a glide ratio of 30:1 and for not more than Euro 30,000!"
In order to answer this we need some insights into production by sailplane manufacturers. The best gliders of the world all come from Germany. I can assert this without it being an exaggeration; you only need to look at the results of world-level competitions. Do you think that the four biggest glider manufacturers in Germany are large firms with production lines like those seen in automobile plants? That assumption would be a great mistake.
DG Flugzeugbau today keeps 65 workers busy in Germany. The other manufacturers have a similar size. That means that in all three factories the construction of sailplanes is almost pure hand work. We have practically no large machines in Bruchsal. Not because we can't afford them, rather because there is no advantageous operational use for large machines. The most important "machines" that we use are the GFK brushes and rollers used to spread out the resin. So we are in the position of paying high German labor costs for what would seem to be simple hand labor.
Shouldn't this an excellent opportunity to move production to countries with cheap labor?
Unfortunately, that doesn't work either. In Germany we have costs for highly skilled labor in the neighborhood of 40 Euro per hour. That's just the payroll and benefits cost without consideration for the buildings, equipment, heat, costs of management, etc. In Czechien we can find employees for 8 Euro per hour. But that doesn't work either even though we have tried repeatedly. Glider pilots expect a certain standard of quality that is also controlled by our federal government aviation office. That quality simply cannot be delivered by the cheap labor countries unless you bring them up to German standards at enormous expense.
We did that with Elan/AMS in Slovenia and at last their production was as good as in Bruchsal - and just as expensive! So we moved the production back again. There are "specialists" in the truest sense with enormous experience and knowledge working in aircraft production. It is not simple to build such a labor base in other countries.
The question remains whether one can save a lot of money by building a simple glider with only a 30:1 glide ratio.
Why should such a glider be cheap? If we ordered a new airfoil today from the Universities in Stuttgart or Delft, such an airfoil would cost a lot of money. Measured against the total development cost of a new glider, it is not much.
Quite the contrary; when one has an expensive production facility because of the reasons stated above, it should at the very least produce the best product possible. It costs just as much to produce a good wing as it does a bad one.
So another question appears:
Can we minimize anything? Do we need all the wonderful equipment?
But what should go? Who today will relinquish automatic control hookup, a safety cockpit and a proper finish?
And many items - like a good undercarriage - are necessary today because of the construction rules.
When you let a couple of things and minimize everything, you will have a micro light glider.
But in comparison to a used one this glider is inferior in nearly every aspect:
Glide ratio, performance, strong construction, safety cockpit, max. speed and so on. Probably a 15 years old German glider still will last longer than a new micro light. Who wants to buy such an aircraft?
We made an investigation to find out, if there is a market for micro light gliders. The result was completely negative!
Nothing will help:
New gliders produced in Germany are expensive, will stay expensive, and will be extraordinarily good at the same time. Copies of old German designs could be built cheaper in foreign countries if the forms could be bought at favorable prices. But who wants to buy a glider with 1978 technology?
There is one solution:
The used glider market. On the right you see an Example of a very good maintained glider:
The DG-200 is 23 years old!
Whoever buys a used fiberglass machine can be pretty sure of getting a good glider even if it is 10 or 20 years old.
And why are the prices in the used market rather high? For exactly the same reasons we began with:
Sailplanes cannot be built more cheaply
and they hold their excellent quality for decades.
- friedel weber - 
.[translated by David Noyes ("NL") Ohio, U.S.A.] 
A Couple Remarks from Our Chief Buyer!!
There are lots of parts in a modern high performance glider that have to be bought.
Unfortunately there are a number of obstacles whenever somebody wants to buy parts for aircraft:
1. Aeronautical Regulations:
There are round about 300 nuts of the M-6 grade. They commonly sell for around 2 cents. Well, we have to use nuts complying to aeronautical rules, that have been specially tested. And guess what: They sell for 15 cents. That's SEVEN times as much!
Spark plugs for the "Solo Engines" can use the same spark plugs that you use in a regular car. Therefore they can be individually obtained. Whereas they would be about 15 Euro if we would use the spark plugs that are made in correspondence to aeronautical rules.
Well close to anything inside the plane, push rods, bolts, ..... are made in compliance to aeronautical rules and regulations. Therefore you can easily judge yourself.
2. NOAH
A complete survival float for 4 humans can be produced for around 1.100 Euro and it sells for around 2k Euro in the stores. It includes everything, the complete mechanism and so on. Well, we have to use a smaller bottle of gas and only a pillow instead of a survival raft. Further on the mechanism used is not the same. Ordering only a few causes a long delivery and immense costs.
The result:
All parts that we have to buy from the suppliers cost about the same as a complete life raft in a store. Then we have to add the development costs, the sales and marketing, the installation and so on. That pushes the price for NOAH to about one and a half of the price for a standard life raft.
Well, unfortunately we will probably never ever make any money out of it but nevertheless it will be more than worth our costs and the effort once it has saved only a single life.
3. Finish
A large automobile plant produces a small passenger car within about 6 hours. It sells for around 9.000 Euro.
Finishing a plane takes around 250 hours of skilled labor. An unskilled worker is not able to finish that task.
And only the finish costs us 9.000 Euro.
4. Radiator Water Hoses
Radiator water tubes are extremely hard to bend. They have to fit exactly and there is not a lot (no) space left in the engine compartment. Producing a specific size of tubes costs about 1 Euro. But as always, that is not all. A mould is needed and costs around 25.000 Euro. A plant calculates around 1.25 Euro p. P. whenever somebody buys 100.000. We estimate 126.- Euro p.P. for 200 (an amount that lasts a couple of years). Well, we found out that the Adam Opel AG used exactly the right size in one of their cars and bought hoses for 10 Euro p.p. Well.
All the sudden we were informed that the Adam Opel AG stopped making hoses for that old model and we bought the last 300 from them for around 3.000 Euro. Hopefully none of our customers drives that car model.
Keep in mind that the Adam Opel AG does not have your hoses any more.
I could go on and on telling you about problems we face producing gliders,
but these problems are common to all sailplane manufacturers.
The latest developments in prices for glider manufacturers
I really understand your reactions only too well. In fact I can practically hear you groan at the sight of the latest prices of new gliders made in Germany. The least I can do, I feel, is give you some background information on current developments and how these affect our prices.
Can you imagine that your glider gets more expensive because Airbus is developing the A380? And that things will really start getting bad once the Boeing 787 goes into production? Unfortunately that’s exactly what’s going on.
In spring 2006, our epoxy resin supplier confronted us with a price increase of 25%. We pulled out all the stops and still only managed to knock him down to “a mere” 18%, no further. The reason given? Well, raw material prices, of course. Especially oil prices, as oil is the feedstock. However, more important is the worldwide shortage of essential materials as a result of the terrific increase in demand from EADS for the new Airbus. There is more aviation-grade resin built into just one of those aircraft than we use up in an entire year!
This September, things really became critical:
There is no more carbon fibre fabric available, not of any sort. And again, it is Airbus who are buying up all the roving supplies worldwide, the material the fabric is made of. Most of the carbon fibre comes from Japan, and Japan has virtually exhausted all its production capacities. One shipment has just arrived in Europe, and the yarn is now being woven into fabric everywhere so that we will receive some in a few days’ time. However, we will only get a part of the quantity ordered, just as in times of food rationing.
That is why, a few days ago, our wing building department was forced to down tools.
Faced with simultaneous price increases of 15% now and 50% in a few months time, and the current shortages, we have our backs to the wall, as you will understand.
The question is, what will happen first: Will more production capacities come on stream first, or will the A380 go into production first? That will determine whether we will be able to lay our hands on enough raw materials in the coming 12 months.
And when Boeing’s “Dreamliner”, the 787, is ready we will be faced with the next lot of problems, because that aircraft contains even more carbon components than the A380. The situation is a very very serious one, and we have no idea how it will develop! What did we therefore have to do once again on 1st October in order to cover our costs?
You guessed it .....
Spare Parts Prices:
When I was still the owner of a DG-400, Glaser-Dirks introduced the policy of a minimum order price. I needed a small part and ordered a few more in order to reach the minimum order. When I saw the bill later, I realized that only one of the parts was already greater than the minimum and the additional parts put the price up even higher.
And today? Now everything looks quite different.
I have determined that we have a whole lot of parts that have been in inventory for years without moving. That uses storage space and costs interest. But if we throw them away, we are sure to get an order for one of them the next day.
And why do we have such a large inventory? Because otherwise we are charged 100% more for ordering less than the minimum required for the lowest price. Then we learned to our surprise, that we had sold various parts at a cheaper price than we could buy them today. What could we do but raise the price to reflect today's prices?
I admit that the prices of spare parts, especially for gliders that we don't make anymore, are quite high.
Does it help any of you as an explanation, that the spare parts warehouse makes no money at all?
Unfortunately, it's the truth!
Von: "Tom Seim"
An: "Friedel Weber"
Anyone who complains about spare parts prices should consider the alternative: no spare parts! This presently the case with the PZL Jantar series. More than once prompt delivery of a part has allowed me to fly; otherwise I would be sitting on the ground in a foul mood.
From the manufacturer's perspective spare parts performs a very important function known as customer service. Keeping customers happy means they will buy more gliders in the future and recommend DG to their friends.
Tom Seim, 2G DG-400
Richland, WA