By Ben Forrest | February 4, 2016 Estimated reading time 6 minutes, 18 seconds.
Shannon Gill, MSB Design’s business development director, with a selection of the company’s china, crystal and flatware inserts. Jean Levasseur Photo
Mario Sévigny and Sony Boudreau started MSB Design Inc. out of a garage in January of 2005, making china, crystal and flatware (CCF) inserts for aircraft in their spare time.
The long-time friends maintained other jobs in the company’s early days and rented time from a school to use the machines they needed.
But they were convinced of their sector’s potential, and 11 years later the once-tiny Canadian firm is a major player in the design and manufacture of interior aircraft parts, with more than 300 employees who serve clients like Bombardier, Embraer and Gulfstream.
“They [Sévigny and Boudreau] put their lives on the line to get the company launched,” said Shannon Gill, the company’s business development director. “And I look at where they are today.”
Increased demand in the United States, as well as the company’s relationship with Gulfstream, prompted plans to launch MSB’s first-ever international office in Savannah, Ga., on Jan. 1.
“Gulfstream has become a really important customer to us,” said Gill. “So we felt it was important that we be present and close by them to support their needs.”
The expansion gives MSB a location in the same city as Gulfstream headquarters and follows the example of Sogeclair, a primary supplier for Airbus and Dassault that bought an 80 per cent stake in MSB in 2014.
“Every one of the Sogeclair locations is married up to an Airbus location to support them,” said Gill. “They have a location just down the street from Dassault Falcon Jet as well, in Merignac.
“If you look at MSB, we’re in Bombardier’s backyard and our biggest success was Bombardier. And what we realized is that we really wanted to replicate that approach and have some onsite support for our key customers.”
MSB started out as an exclusive supplier of CCF inserts for Bombardier’s Global platform and continues to supply those products today, along with magazine racks, iPod cradles and other small components.
The company has a long-term contract with Embraer for china, crystal and flatware inserts and supplies tables for the Gulfstream G500 and G600 business jets. Jean Levasseur Photo
The company’s Savannah location will be a sales office, with production remaining in Montreal. It will serve various sites in the United States and puts the company within four hours of Embraer’s office in Melbourne, Fla.
“I can be there in the afternoon if I got a call in the morning,” said Gill, who is relocating to Savannah from company headquarters in Montreal to run the strategic development of MSB Group.
The company has a long-term contract with Embraer for CCF inserts and supplies tables for the Gulfstream G500 and G600 business jets.
MSB also works with VIP completion centres, supplying them with products for head-of-state planes that demand an impeccable finish.
“Quality-wise we were already there, because we somewhat surpassed the requirements of the business jet level,” said Gill.
“When I see some of the products that we were replacing, the quality of our inserts—I honestly haven’t seen anything comparable. The tables are also really an excellent quality.
“And so the transition into VIP mostly relates to the size of the deliveries, which are much bigger per aircraft. We had to make that adjustment, but it’s been a really good fit for us in terms of the products.”
The company has a wider customer base for its CCF inserts, but its tables produce larger contracts, said Gill. MSB has more than 300 tables in circulation now, and she expects it will be delivering around 200 tables a year in the next couple of years.
MSB also has considerable but lesser-known capacities in cabinet building and engineering, with about 200 engineers on placement in various companies around Montreal and in the United States.
“Today, we could be handed an airplane and do design right through to the delivery of the monuments, A to Z, including certification,” said Gill.
As for the next couple of years, Gill said she hopes the company will be able to complement the products it is supplying customers.
“For example, if we’re supplying tables, let’s start supplying the CCF inserts for those customers and vice-versa,” she said.
“We have a really nice customer base right now that we still have a lot of opportunity to grow within.”
– With files from Lisa Gordon
