MONTANA AEROSPACE

investments in recent years to support its growth, including a third heavy press for aluminium extrusions at its facility in Romania.

“With many businesses consolidating their supply chain, our one-stop shop offering is the perfect opportunity for customers. The investment at our site in Romania has led to some fantastic contracts, including extrusion for Airbus,” said Kai.

Sales Sales

Precision metrology equipment

Machine tools

3D printers

Industrial X-ray systems

Microscopes and optical systems

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For 12 years TOP Metrology has been

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Services

Services

X-Ray / CT scanning

2D and 3D dimensional control

Component sorting

Machining

Additive manufacturing

In April 2022, Montana Aerospace acquired aircraft parts manufacturer, Asco. The acquisition has strengthened the business portfolio as well as its geographical footprint.

Although acquisition isn’t currently a priority for Montana Aerospace, the business will continue to explore opportunities in the market, from both a geographical and product perspective.

Naturally, with business growth should come the adoption of more personnel. Kai foresees the need for the business to grow from its existing 7,000 to 10,000 employees.

“Like most industries, post-pandemic we are facing a labour shortage. We already require an additional 500 colleagues in Romania within the next year to meet demand,” shared Kai, “because of the nature of our business it is crucial to have skilled labour. We’re investing a lot of time into training and development, which will be one of our focusses over the next 12 months”.

The Key to Leadership

When it comes to his colleagues, Kai has the ability to relate, having worked his way from apprentice to management whilst at his previous employer, Airbus.

“I believe the ability to talk to people and to understand their problems is in my DNA, but of course, it does help that I’ve been in their position, too,” said Kai, “having the opportunity at Montana Aerospace to visit our many facilities and meet with our culturally diverse employees has also benefited my leadership style”.

“Of the key competencies, a leader should be able to listen. Then, the challenge is to onboard colleagues into the strategy. However, having a truly diverse leadership team means that our strategy is filled with different perspectives and is essentially bullet proof” he continued.

Having previously worked for Airbus, a customer of Montana Aerospace, for 30 years, Kai knows the business inside out.

“From my own experience as a customer, I always knew that Montana Aerospace was synonymous with quality and reliability. An offer came to me at the right time, and I was attracted by the business’ concept and vision. I was really enamoured by how the business has created an entrepreneurial spirit within an industrial environment, it’s really, really cool,” explained Kai.

Combatting the Turbulence Ahead

Despite the outlook for Montana Aerospace clearly being very positive, Kai acknowledged that the business isn’t immune to the challenges faced by most industries.

As well as labour shortages, the global energy prices and material shortage is a challenge which Montana Aerospace is prepared to face head on.

“The key is to always have open discussions with customers. We’re in the business of extrusion which is very energy intensive and therefore costly in the current climate. We’ve had some positive conversations with the OEMs to come up with good solutions,” said Kai.

Although the material shortage is still prevalent, Kai believes this isn’t as critical as during the early part of 2022. What was clearly reflected by Kai during his conversation with Business Enquirer was that Montana Aerospace was stepping into 2023 in a positive position. www.montana-aerospace.com

“We’re completely in line with our strategy and the results for 2022 year end looks positive. We’re starting on fantastic footing for the year ahead and it’s going to be really exciting to see what happens,” he said.