Swiss versus American CEO

From an interview with the Markus Bucher, the CEO of Pilatus (in Switzerland)….

For the first time we produced and delivered over 140 aircraft to our customers in one year, taking us virtually to the limit of our current production capacity. The enormous demand for our General Aviation aircraft, the PC-12 and PC-24, exceeds all our expectations!

The interviewer, from an in-house magazine, asks “Were our ambitious corporate goals achieved in 2021?”

2021 was a mixed year… I’m not entirely happy! Demand is incredibly positive and our finances are very health. But we work inefficiently and we remain under a lot of pressure because of the need to bypass many standardized production processes due to faulty materials and insufficient quality from our suppliers.

Readers: let me know if you can find anything similarly candid from a U.S. CEO (other than Elon Musk)!

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4 thoughts on “Swiss versus American CEO

  1. The former founder/CEO of Cognex, Robert Shillman, was also similar in his candor. (he is an MIT alum as well) He is responsible for the unique style of annual reports. In the 2000 annual report (I think) he highlighted how great the prior year was then went on to say that as much as he would like to say it was all due to how well the company executed, he pointed out the whole industry did well.

    I consider Warren Buffet to be fairly transparent with his bad decisions

  2. I don’t read many CEO statements of this kind but I’ll take your word for it that he’s being candid. Imagine if more CEOs were like that! Then naïve investors would at least be on more of a level playing field with insiders and people wouldn’t have to place quasi-random bets based on buzz, hype, FUD, and the Ouija board. Maybe providing clear information like this would improve our market economy so that it functioned better and didn’t rely on so many “loser shock absorbers” as it currently does. Socialists would have a harder time claiming: “It’s all nonsense upon stilts, you free-market morons. Pelosi for President in 2028!”

    Even if some bad news leads to questions in some people’s minds, isn’t it better for people to be aware of what they’re they’re investing (or thinking of investing) in?

    Etc., etc.

  3. Related: the PC-24 has a short takeoff distance, but it is too loud! From BeechTalk.com …

    > On 6/18/21 at 10:22 local time a PC-24, N281EB departed SMO and read an astounding 98.9 dB. This is 157 percent of allowable and the highest number I ever remember for a Stage 3 airplane. A Lear 25 reads lower than that. A Gulfstream II reads lower than that.

    Maybe in 2022 the CEO will fix that, along with the ridiculously loud hydraulic pump (located under the first row of seats) that cycles on/off while the gear is down. Hear it @ 4:52 (its louder in the cabin):
    https://youtu.be/4HzEiU5qzHA?t=290

    • At what distance do they measure the decibels? How does that compare to an F-15?

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