From left to right: John Saabas, President, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, Nicolas Marceau, Minister of Finance and Economy, Marie Malavoy, Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports, Martine Ouellet, Minister of Natural Resources and Benoit Beaudoin, Vice President, Operations, Pratt & Whitney Canada. (Photo: PW&C)
LONGUEUIL, Que. Pratt & Whitney Canada has announced they will be investing $275 million in their manufacturing facility in Longueil, Quebec over the next five years.
On Monday, October 28, and event was at the companys location just outside of Montreal. It was attended by Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, Quebec government representatives, members of the aerospace industry and academic/research sectors and employees. John Saabas, President, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC), was also on hand to mark the occasion.
The goal of the funding is to create what P&WC referred to as a World-Class Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Manufacturing. The centre will see new technology implemented on three new intelligent production lines. The production lines will be dedicated to manufacturing highly complex components for the new-generation family of PurePower engines.
The announcement of this project is great news, as it will propel P&WC into the future, said Mr. Saabas.
P&WC is a global company whose roots have been firmly planted in Canada for 85 years. These investments once again demonstrate our long-standing approach to innovation and productivity, as well as our ongoing efforts to improve our technologies and modernize our infrastructure.
The unique properties of the new materials used in key parts for our next generation of engines, as well as the extreme conditions to which these materials are subjected, inspired us to design new, fully integrated, ultra-efficient production lines, explained Benoit Beaudoin, Vice President, Operations, P&WC.
Equipped with automation, closed-loop process control and high-precision machining technologies, the World-Class Centre of Excellence for Intelligent Manufacturing will propel us into a new era in manufacturing.
The introduction of the three intelligent production lines will require extensive upgrading of P&WCs Longueuil plant, which is set to begin in the next few months, with the objective of being fully operational in 2015.
In addition to the intelligent cells, the investments announced today will help support further development of manufacturing, assembly, tests and information technology, enabling the company to continue improving productivity, innovation and technological capability at its Quebec facilities.
These investments will lead to the creation of 90 new permanent jobs and maintain 166 existing jobs in Quebec.
The government of Quebec will contribute $19 million to support these future investments.
www.pwc.ca
