Manitoba Aerospace Week

MANITOBA AEROSPACE WEEK May 27 - June 4, 2016 21 Strong Past, Bright Future SALUTING THE ALL-STARS T he recipients of the 14th annual Manitoba Aerospace All-Stars Awards of Excellence were celebrated for excellence in education and training; leadership; innovative businesses practices and teamwork — and for helping to build the aerospace community at large. • The Builder Award, which recognizes contributions made to the benefit of the entire membership of the organization and the interests of the provincial aerospace industry, was awarded to Rick Jensen, who retired in 2015 after a 43-year career with Boeing Canada Winnipeg. Serving in multiple roles at all levels, Rick helped Boeing Winnipeg develop from a small plant of 57 skilled workers in 1971 to Canada's largest composite components manufacturing facility, employing 1,600 people in 2015. He was instrumental in advancing the scope and complexity of Boeing Winnipeg's manufacturing capability and influential in gaining design authority for the 787 Dreamliner. Inside and outside of Boeing, Rick worked to help grow the Manitoba aerospace community. He was a champion of the Composites Innovation Centre (CIC) and served on the boards of the CIC, the Manitoba Aerospace Association (MAA), and the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC). He led Boeing Winnipeg's community relations initiatives, helping Boeing to build stronger communities and a better world. Under his leadership Boeing become a consistent Manitoba Top 25 and a Canada Top Diversity Employer, and the first-ever recipient of the CME Community Service Award. • Leo Sousa received a Leadership Award for leading Cormer Group Industries' expansion into an international aerospace and defence enterprise, and for helping to grow Manitoba as a hub of aerospace and defence excellence. Joining Cormer in 2008 as Senior Finance Manager, Leo led the development of corporate strategies, business transformation, and market access. Since becoming President of the Cormer Group of Companies, he has helped diversify and increase the number of customers, opened new plants in New Brunswick and Mexico, and brought new international customers to Manitoba. Under his leadership Cormer has been recognized as one of Canada's top-ranked defence companies for the last four years by Canada Defence Review. Leo ensures that he spends time on the shop floor meeting and listening to employees, and in the community, supporting community-based and not-for- profit organizations. • Barb Bowen, Special Programs Manager with Manitoba Aerospace, received an award for excellence in Education and Training. Barb joined Manitoba Aerospace — formerly Manitoba Aerospace Human Resources Council (MAHRC) — in 1999 and since that time has amassed a truly amazing body of work with educators, educational institutions, student groups, and organizations. Barb was instrumental in providing people with opportunities to develop the required knowledge and skills to gain employment in the aerospace industry, and in reaching out to students and youth to inspire them to pursue a career in aerospace. Barb has either led or contributed her efforts to a number of highly successful outreach programs, including: Career Trek, Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), Manitoba Space Adventure Camp, WinCube, Aviation and Aerospace in Manitoba (AAiM) Day, Girls in Aviation Day, and a host of career fairs. Her outreach to women, the Aboriginal community, and youth is essential in bringing diversity to the workforce, now and for the future. • StandardAero's eShop Order Implementation Team was recognized for excellence in Teamwork and Innovative Business Practices. The StandardAero eShop Order project involved converting the internal paper-based shop order system to a fully electronic shop routing system, improving quality, reducing cycle and turnaround time, and reducing costs. The amount of paper documents was reduced by 80 to 90%, significantly reducing paper and printing requirements as well as eliminating the costs to file, sort, store, maintain, ship, retrieve and track physical records. The most valuable improvement, however, is the improvement in quality control in a system that accepts only appropriately trained and authorized employees to perform and sign-off tasks. This alone reduced the time required to complete the final inspection process by nearly 50%. This complex project required the participation of people across all levels of the organization. The 20-member interdisciplinary team turned the vision into reality through collaborative teamwork and relentless project management. The team included Tyler Ross, Jennie Grobb, Peter Awender, Brett McCullough, April Scrapneck, Ray Janzen, Chris Russell, Dana Hartley, Leroy Lemon, Mike Lepage, Gerry Lesnick, Peter Wheatley, Dave Smith, Derek Ashcroft, Amanda Schultz, Tom Scheller, Corwin Collins, Bryan Riley and Bev Picton. ❚ The Manitoba Aerospace All-Stars Dinner and Awards evening is also an important fundraiser for the Aerospace Student Awards Endowment fund. Each year, the endowments support six financial awards to high school and post-secondary students, helping them access rewarding, enduring careers in the aviation and aerospace industries. Top: StandardAero eShop Order Implementation Team. Left to Right: Barb Bowen, Manitoba Aerospace Human Resources Council (MAHRC); Leo Sousa, Cormer Group Industries; Rick Jensen, Boeing Canada Winnipeg (retired).

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