No one will ever mistake Frank Robinson's helicopter factory for a six-sigma "lean" assembly line regardless of how prolific its output.
Lean lines are generally so efficient, synchronized and hushed that your eyes deceive you into thinking that not much work is being done. 
Robinson's 1,300 employees toiling away in two cavernous manufacturing buildings in
"...They'd rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!"
Their toys in this California tale are rivet guns, metal presses, paint booths. Their product starts as raw metal coming in one door; It ends as a two-seat or four-seat helicopter coming out the back door. Much noise in-between.
The only items not made in-house are fibreglass, instruments, engines (they're made by Lycoming) and the honeycomb sandwiched between two metal skins of each helicopter's rotor blades.
Given the economy, not as many helicopters are coming out the back door this month as in months past, but officials hope for a rebound when financing frees up and a new helicopter, the R66, is ready for mass consumption.
Last year's production numbers, which saw a record breaking total of 893 helicopters produced, amounted to about 20 helicopters built per week - a combination 17 four-seat, fuel injected R44 Raven IIs, 4 two-seat R22s and 3 normally-aspirated R44 Raven Is. Each takes about 8-10 weeks complete and 70% of all helos made at Robinson get exported.
Mixed in with the new builds are overhaul projects. All Robinson helicopters have to be overhauled by an authorized service centre or the factory every 12 years or 2,200 hours, costing about 60% of what a new helo costs. A new standard-equipped R22 costs about $250,000 while; a new R44 Raven II runs about $400,000.
Once built, each helicopter shows up in the flight test room, where it gets two rotor blades installed, tracked and balanced and where batteries are placed. Police and electronic news gatherers have the batteries placed in the tail cone while others have the battery under the engine or the seats.
Lastly flight test pilots spend 4 hours ringing out every new helicopter, after which the aircraft undergoes a final detailing and inspection.
When I toured the facility on 24 February, Frank Robinson waited in a room near the flight test area with his new million-dollar baby. The R66 is the company's first turbine-powered helicopter and its largest aircraft to date.
Powered by a Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft engine, the R66 holds five passengers (2+3) and will have the first baggage compartment in the portfolio. Robinson has not yet set the price, but hints that it will be in the neighbourhood of $1 million.
Frank Robinson is pictured below with N266RH, the second R66 prototype and part of the FAA certification program, which is expected to be complete next year.
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