Vector Aerospace ES-A targets continued expansion

Growth is the top priority for well-known maintenance, repair and overhaul facility Vector Aerospace Engine Services – Atlantic (ES-A). Canadian Skies sat down with company president Jeff Poirier to talk about the company’s recent global expansion, as well as what’s happening at its Summerside, PEI, divisional headquarters.  

Poirier has departmental responsibility for 544 employees in Canada, the USA, South Africa, Kenya, and Australia. He said the ES-A division has been busy over the last 12 months, finalizing the acquisition of the former Pratt & Whitney facility in Brisbane, which is now known as Vector Australia. That process went smoothly, said Poirier, largely due to lessons learned during the previous acquisition of Johannesburg and the greenfield start-ups of Dallas, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Calgary, and Nairobi.  

“We learn from each one. If you hire somebody locally to oversee each opening, it’s much easier.” He added that ES-A is proud to be opening a new facility in Singapore in the fall of 2014 for service on the PW150A engine. ES-A’s sister division in British Columbia (Vector Aerospace Helicopter Services – North America) is also opening a new facility next year, in Brazil.

Recently, ES-A was named a designated overhaul facility for the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PW150A engine, which powers Bombardier Q400 aircraft. At the moment, PW150A work is being handled in Summerside, but it will eventually be relocated to Singapore next year. That facility will ramp up with about 40 employees and is expected to peak at 250 staff.    

Meanwhile, the PEI headquarters – located in a hangar at the former CFB Summerside – is running at top speed. When it first opened its doors as Atlantic Turbines in 1991, it took the company two years to process 20 engines. Today, ES-A processes 20 engines a week and is currently over capacity. A recent expansion added close to 15,000 square feet of additional floor space to the facility, bringing it to 175,000 square feet in total. 

Reflecting its long association with P&WC, Poirier said the engine maker is ES-A’s number one vendor. “We’ve aligned ourselves with numerous programs and we share a joint interest in making sure the customers are satisfied. When their shop is full, they’ll send engines to us, and vice versa,” he explained.  

But Poirier also added that ES-A is still in expansion mode, with the goal being to entertain opportunities with other OEMs. “We want to backfill Summerside with other engine models, and grow in our fixed-wing airframe side. Obviously, our parent company, Airbus, will yield some opportunities there. We’d like to replicate our success with some other product lines.”

In keeping with that goal, ES-A announced in early November that it had partnered with Airbus Military and the province of PEI to provide engine maintenance for the C295 aircraft, a contender in the race to replace Canada’s fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft. If the C295 is selected, the contract bodes well for aerospace jobs in PEI, with an estimated value of $150 million over its 20-year life. 

With lots of work on the horizon, ES-A is looking to expand its employee roster. 

“We’ve added about 70 new faces to Summerside this year,” said Poirier. He said that while the recent new hires are welcome, ES-A must continue to “aggressively recruit both experienced people and those starting out in their careers.” Admittedly, that can be a bit of a challenge when you’re a big fish in a little pond. ES-A is the second largest private employer on PEI, and Poirier said the labour pool is limited. However, “we have a very good compensation package and related benefits. We engage our employees in our decisions where possible, and we also do a significant amount of investment into employees’ communities. This ensures they have pride in where they work, and they see that we are giving back.” 

It’s that sense of employee pride that Poirier said can’t be duplicated anywhere else, even though the company has tried. “You can transfer policies and procedures, but what makes Summerside the best spot in the world is the people – they are dedicated, committed, and hard-working. You just can’t duplicate that Maritime culture. There’s a huge pride factor. Even customers touring our shop feel it.”