Increasing use of advanced materials is driving revenue growth at Nova Scotia-based EADS Composites Atlantic by 35% a year. Created 20 years ago to produce missile launch canisters, and now owned 50:50 by EADS Sogerma and the province of Nova Scotia, the Lunenberg-based company has seen revenues shift from 100% defence to 82% civil aerospace, of which only 2% is for EADS, says president and chief executive Maurice Guitton.
"The use of composites is growing, and we work daily with every technology in aerospace under the same roof," he says. "Also, four to five years ago we decided to do less build-to-print work and more engineering." The company opened a design office in Montreal and took on risk-sharing work. "We won [Boeing 787] work by bringing new technology" - a composite diagonal brace that forms part of the engine pylon primary structure.
With 370 staff, Composites Atlantic is the second-largest aerospace employer in Nova Scotia, and revenues are forecast to nearly double from 2005 to 2010, to almost C$43 million ($37 million). The firm is targeting offset work tied to Canada's military aircraft purchase, but will have to be competitive, Guitton says: "There is no magic fairy."
Source: Flight International
