StandardAero Announces Canadian Centers of Excellence (COEs) for Helicopter Airframe/Components, Helicopter Engine and Turboprop Engine MRO Services

StandardAero announces the company will be restructuring, over the next 12-18 months, its primary Canadian MRO facilities to create three different Centers of Excellence (COEs) specifically for supporting helicopter airframe/component MRO services, helicopter engine MRO services and turboprop engine MRO services at it facilities located in Langley, B.C., Winnipeg, M.B., and Summerside, P.E.I., respectively.

Additionally, as part of the restructuring, StandardAero intends to wind down operations at its Richmond, B.C., facility by June of 2019.  Helicopter engine MRO services currently performed at Richmond will be relocated to StandardAero’s Winnipeg facility, including all Safran Arriel 1&2, Rolls-Royce M250, GE T700 and Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6T helicopter engine MRO services. Winnipeg will serve as the company’s COE for all helicopter engine MRO services. Helicopter dynamic components, currently located in Richmond, will be relocated to the company’s Langley facility which will serve as the COE for helicopter airframes/component MRO services moving forward.

In order to accommodate all of the helicopter engine MRO capabilities in Winnipeg, StandardAero is moving its Winnipeg P&WC PW100 MRO engine services and as well as the existing P&WC PT6A work to its facility in Summerside, which will become the company’s COE for turboprop engine MRO.

“Over the past several months, our team has been working carefully to drive integration activities and program management to combine our legacy StandardAero and Vector Aerospace facilities,” says Russell Ford, CEO of StandardAero. “A big part of our overall acquisition strategy is to ensure we establish these Centers of Excellence and combine or consolidate relevant engine platforms to eliminate duplicate operations, while also freeing up capacity to accommodate our growth programs.”

Moreover, StandardAero’s objectives for the restructuring include achieving better organizational efficiency and more focused support and service for our customers. Eliminating redundancies also allows the company to better allocate engineering, testing and technology investments.

“We want to combine capabilities in locations that make the best collective sense for our company and also to provide the best services for our customers, with the least amount of disruption. While the workforce in our Richmond facility will shrink over time, we expect to expand and grow our workforce in Langley, Winnipeg and Prince Edward Island,” Ford adds.

All of the changes will occur over the coming months and with careful planning and program management to ensure smooth transitions. As part of the process, the company will also ensure that impacted employees will have opportunities to explore other positions for which they are qualified at other company locations and be provided with relocation assistance and company funded resources to find jobs either inside or outside of StandardAero.

“Our end goal is for all employees to be successfully redeployed by the end of the transition period,” Ford concludes.