By Ben Forrest | December 1, 2016 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 27 seconds.
Montreal-based MSB Design is set to open a new production facility in Savannah, Ga., this year, a move intended to help the company serve original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Gulfstream, Embraer and Dassault.
The Savannah operation will have the ability to manufacture MSB’s signature Hi-Lo tables for business and VIP aircraft, as well as utilize computer numerical control (CNC) cutting to produce protective glass racks and china, crystal and flatware (CCF) inserts. Cabinet work may also be completed there.
The 10,000-square-foot production space complements a sales office MSB opened in Savannah in December 2015 and will have an initial team of 15 employees.
Long-time MSB staff will shadow new employees to ensure the new facility has exactly the same processes and level of quality as MSB operations in Montreal.
“It’s going to take some time,” said Shannon Gill, the company’s director of business development. “We’re looking at getting our equipment in and starting training in January. I expect that it will be second quarter of 2017 before we’ll start actual deliveries to customers.”
MSB specifically chose a building that had adjacent facilities available, with future growth in mind.
“I believe there is a possibility of another 80,000 square feet in that same facility,” said Gill. “So we’re not taking more than we need to begin with, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
MSB plans to keep its engineering and design work in Montreal for now, a key difference between the two facilities.
“We feel that we can communicate engineering and methods adequately at a distance, with a liaison on site in Savannah to help support the communication to the floor,” said Gill.
The new production facility is set to follow a successful 2016 that saw MSB create six new Hi-Lo tables, including its first deliveries of electric tables.
A key project was a large, four-pedestal table for Comlux Aviation Group, a VIP charter service with offices around the world.
“When you have an electric table that has multiple pedestals, the pedestals really have to talk to each other, to synchronize so that you don’t end up off-kilter as they’re descending and raising,” said Gill.
“So our engineers had to go through the challenge of making sure that those pedestals would really move in sync with each other.”
The table also includes a new hinge cover design that will be applied to other projects, and MSB will be able to take pedestal technology from the Comlux project and use it for other customers, said Gill.
“It’s been an exciting year,” she said. “We’re at 25 or 30 different table designs now.”
Ultimately, Gill sees the Savannah facility as a good location to support several OEMs and completion centres in the United States. It also removes delivery issues created when items have to cross borders.
“The communication level is so much better with our customers–understanding their needs, being on site to understand what needs to be addressed, and then having a facility close enough that we can produce the products that they need,” she said.
“Our customers indicated that proximity was important, we listened, and so far our move to the U.S. has been a really good decision.”
