November 10, 2011
Profile Composites Inc.
Sidney, British Columbia
Profile Composites Inc. is poised for expansion: Launched as a one-person consultancy in 1997, the firm is now a manufacturer employing 10 people in Canada, and recently announced the opening of a second location in the U.S. that will employ another 15.
Founded by Geoff Wood, Profile Composites uses a sustainable manufacturing system to develop and produce advanced lightweight composite products. The firm also provides product development and manufacturing support services including design consultation, modeling and analysis, manufacturing process development, and pattern and tooling development.
Profile Composites designed its first product—composite floats for small airplanes—for Seaflight Industries Inc. with help from the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and the NRC Institute for Aerospace Research (NRC-IAR). Since then, it has gone on to manufacture a variety of products, including wind-turbine blades, satellite dishes, drones, auto and truck bodies, fuel tanks and kayak paddle shafts.
NRC-IRAP Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) Tony Edgar first encountered Wood in 1997 when Profile Composites was working with Seaflight—another NRC-IRAP client of Edgar’s at the time.
“From that point on, NRC-IRAP worked with Profile to develop the company into what it is today, teaming up with the firm on a variety of R&D innovation and Youth Employment projects, and providing advisory services,” says Edgar.
One of those projects, a technical feasibility study, permitted the firm to pursue research in innovative technology that put it on the leading edge of aerospace and transportation R&D, says Wood. That project positioned the firm to become a major part of Canadian Composite Manufacturing Research and Development (CCMRD), a research company led by Boeing and Bell Helicopter.
“That NRC-IRAP project led to our recognition and inclusion at a level where we’re dealing with the Boeings and the Bells of the world,” says Wood. “That’s a very, very strong success story based on technology platforms that NRC-IRAP helped support. Tony has connected us on a national scale to people who are developing and forwarding advanced composite technology nationally.”
Introductions from Edgar and NRC-IRAP also resulted in Profile becoming involved in the satellite antenna dish market and the high-end production of carbon fibre shafts for kayak paddles. These opportunities enabled the company to add five new jobs over the past four years, and put it in a position to grow its antennae production significantly.
Wood is unequivocal in crediting NRC-IRAP for enabling his firm to stay in Canada. “We definitely would have moved to the U.S. if NRC-IRAP didn’t exist,” he says. “The contacts we made through NRC-IRAP have led to jobs and revenue worth more than 10 times the value of NRC-IRAP’s direct contributions to our firm.”
Thanks to NRC-IRAP’s involvement and financial support, Profile has:
- Evolved from a one-man consultancy to a manufacturer with 25 staff in two locations.
- Attracted some 40 customers, half of whom came by referral through NRC-IRAP.
- Doubled its revenue from sales in the past four years.
- Joined CCMRD and begun joint manufacturing research for aerospace manufacturing technology with Boeing and Bell Helicopter.
- Won the 2009 JEC-Asia Composites Innovation Award for Aerospace and the JEC-Paris Composites Innovation Award for Transportation, the largest and most prestigious composites technology awards.
Profile is currently building a new facility at Washington State’s Port of Bremerton. This product line will focus on assistive devices for people with handicaps, including ultra-light folding wheelchairs, prosthetics and performance crutches designed by SideStix Ventures Inc.—yet another NRC-IRAP client.
“Profile Composites may not be a large company, but it’s a highly successful one that has achieved global recognition,” says Edgar.
