Summary
Ontic , a leading supplier to the world’s civil and military aircraft, has opened its new state-of-the-art facility in Tewkesbury. The company has invested £11m in the new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) base at Ashchurch Business Park on the site of a former printing factory, which was officially opened by the Mayor of Tewkesbury, Cllr George Porter, yesterday (Thursday).
Details
Around 180 workers are being transitioned to Tewkesbury from Ontic’s other Gloucestershire bases in Bishop’s Cleeve and Staverton, as well as other sites. Some 250 people, including Ontic’s entire MRO UK staff and VIPs, were present at the opening. Punchline-Gloucester.com was also there to cover the opening and editor Mark Owen was given an exclusive tour of the new building.
Ontic has grown rapidly over the years from 25 employees in Cheltenham to over 800 across its UK sites, primarily in Gloucestershire. The MRO sector is seeing heightened demand as aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus face production backlogs, forcing airlines to keep older aircraft in service longer. David Mayne, Ontic’s director of MRO Europe , described it as an “awesome day” for Ontic and him personally.
“It’s been a long journey for the site and the build for me personally,” he said.”I’ve been in MRO for 30 years so for us to be opening an MRO site 30 years later is unbelievable. It’s a phenomenal place to be.
“Basically we are a component repair shop so the parts which require service or maintenance come to our service centre to be repaired.” The new building includes a huge workshop as well as a support area for the finance, sales, marketing and legal teams. A 24/7 “Aircraft On Ground” (AOG) team follows the sun, supported by an office in Singapore, to provide immediate parts and technical support to grounded airlines.
“People call the number which is constantly manned and we’ll get a shipment replacement part or a loan unit to enable them to be able to continue flying their aircraft,” said David. “I’m sure you’ve been on holiday and been delayed at the airport. That was probably because an aircraft was delayed waiting for a part.” David added: “We are still moving people and products into the building.
There’s another 50 people to come into the workshop. We can probably get 270 people in here ultimately.” Ontic works with some of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, including Boeing and Airbus, but about 60% of its MRO work is with military aircraft. Ontic has a sizable presence in Gloucestershire.
David added: “We have over 72000sq ft here, 70,000 in Bishop’s Cleeve and 65,000 in Staverton. We’ve acquired some additional buildings and premises in Staverton where we are moving our logistics hubs into.” The company opened a comparable facility in Miramar, Florida, last year; the Tewkesbury site is the second in its global MRO specialisation strategy.
What You Need to Know
“It’s been a long journey for the site and the build for me personally,” he said.”I’ve been in MRO for 30 years so for us to be opening an MRO site 30 years later is unbelievable. It’s a phenomenal place to be.
Report source: Punchline Gloucester
