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OEM support specialist undergoes major changes
Peg Billson is president of Ontic. a wholly-owned subsidiary of BBA Aviation which specialises in licensing or acquiring OEMs' non-core mature product lines to provide the engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and sales of these products. Ontic operates two US facilities in Houston and Chatsworth, California and two UK locations in Slough and Cheltenham. The company expects a fifth location in Singapore to open by the end of 2012. Ontic is exhibiting at Farnborough with BBA Aviation (hall 4, stand 14).
Q: WHAT ARK THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES ONTIC HAS UNDERGONE SINCE IT EAST EXHIBITED AT FARNBOROUGH?
A: The most significant change that our business has gone through is perfectly aligned with the strategic direction we set off on two years ago - which was to expand our non-US footprint, expand our unique business proposition outside of the USA, and to expand in olectronics. And we have done that during the past two years - twofold. One, a specific acquisition focused on electronics in the UK, and starting up a new UK facility to complement our Chatsworth facility. During the past two years, we have grown our legacy electronics support capabilities from 3% of our revenue to 30% of our revenue. And we have that capability and footprint not only in Cheltenham. England but also in Chatsworth, California, so we are able to support North American as well as UK and European legacy electronics needs.
Q: WHAT ASPECT OF THE FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST?
A: The entire global aerospace community comes together at the Farnborough air show, so we take advantage of these venues to meet our existing partners and expand our relationships with potential new partners. We also take the opportunity to showcase Ontic to help people understand the unique value proposition we provide in the industry, and to communicate and showcase what we uniquely have to offer.
Q: YOU SUPPORT OEM LEGACY PRODUCTS THROUGH LICENSING OR ACQUISITION. HOW DOES ONTIC'S SUPPORT OF THESE PRODUCTS COMPARE WITH THAT OF THE OEMS?
A: We are identical to the original equipment manufacturer. The way our business model works is we obtain intellectual property rights...