Featured-articles, Features-people, Interviews, Sustainability

Bigger, Better, Greener

31 Oct 2022
An interview with Simon Wayne, General Manager at Bombardier Singapore Service Centre

Canadian aerospace giant, Bombardier, celebrated the grand opening of its newly transformed Singapore Service Centre on 30 June 2022 in the company of industry partners and clients. Located at Seletar Aerospace Park, the Singapore Service Centre, which opened in 2014, has more than quadrupled its footprint from 70,000 sq. ft. (6,500 m2) to approximately 290,000 sq. ft. (27,000 m2).

Aerospace Singapore speaks to Mr. Simon Wayne, General Manager of Bombardier Singapore Service Centre to find out more about the massive expansion and Bombardier’s operations in Singapore.

Hi Simon, congratulations! Tell us about your background and how you came to become the Singapore Service Centre’s General Manager?

Thank you! I started my career back in Australia as an engineer whilst gaining my pilot licence. Over the past 30 years, I have worked regionally and internationally in a wide range of aerospace-related roles, with the last 17 years based in Asia Pacific. In previous organisations, I was responsible for MRO and FBO operations as well as business planning, new facilities design development, construction planning, and business development.

In 2013, I was given the privilege to establish the first Bombardier Business Aircraft Service Centre in Asia — here in Singapore. We started with an empty field, in the heart of Seletar Aerospace Park (SAP), and today, we are thrilled to have grown over four times of our original size and enhanced our presence in tandem with the development of SAP and the Singapore aerospace sector!

Can you tell us more about the decision to expand the Bombardier service facility in Singapore?

At Bombardier, providing service excellence on every level is our ongoing commitment to every customer, and I know that the outstanding engineers and technicians based at our enhanced, award-winning facility consistently deliver the service experience our customers have come to expect.

Bombardier recognises that Singapore, and Seletar, is the gateway to Asia-Pacific with a growing aviation footprint that will greatly enhance passenger traffic in the region. With business aviation rapidly starting to open, the Singapore Service Centre will provide infinite benefits, including quicker aircraft turnarounds, greater convenience, and peace of mind to Bombardier’s growing customer base in Asia. Customers can also enjoy access to the complete range of OEM customer service and support at their doorstep.

The newly expanded Singapore Service Centre is a key pillar in the major investments of our growing worldwide customer service footprint, and is today, the largest, most comprehensive OEM business aviation maintenance facility in Asia Pacific. Having a service centre of this calibre makes a strong statement about our commitment to this region, and we are immensely proud to be an integral part of the community in Singapore.

Please tell us more about the new and enhanced services being offered at the expanded facility.

The massive expansion at the Singapore Service Centre introduces new services and a complete suite of maintenance and modification capabilities for Bombardier’s clients. This includes a brand-new business jet paint facility – a first in the Asia-Pacific region – with a dedicated preparation and a dedicated temperature and humidity-controlled painting bay.

Our parts depot has doubled in size, and we have added over US$15 million in parts inventory. This integrated parts depot is equipped with the latest technology and will serve the site and the region 24/7. Bombardier’s Global aircraft customers can also choose to lease BR710 engines from Rolls Royce stored on site, significantly reducing downtime and costs.

The expanded facility also enhances amenities for our customers, offering exceptional office and lounge facilities, as well as ground handling in collaboration with Jetex. We have also been able to add sought-after new heavy structural and composite repair capabilities in addition to enhanced full-service interior finishing capacity. With the expansion, we have essentially doubled our maintenance capacity, and the Singapore Service Centre is expected to support more than 2,000 business jet visits annually.

What are some of the unique features at the newly expanded building?

We created this US$85-million investment with sustainability at its core and took an environmentally respectful approach to its design and project development. We installed solar panels on the facility’s roofs as well as carpark structures to reduce energy consumption, which translates to 15% of the site’s annual electricity demand.

Other important green initiatives include the use of building management systems, insulation, LED lighting, low flow plumbing fixtures and automated water reticulation for improved water conservation and enhanced energy efficiency. With these in place, the facility achieved Singapore’s Green Mark Gold by the Building & Construction Authority and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Silver LEED Green Building certifications.

We are leading the sustainability push by uploading the first ever batch of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) at Seletar at the Singapore Service Centre in collaboration with Shell Aviation. Bombardier is committed to reduce the environmental footprint of business aviation worldwide, hence we are offering business aviation operators this environmentally friendly fuel option at Seletar Airport.

Being in Seletar also means being surrounded by rich heritage and Singapore’s history, and we are pleased to pay homage to this in the design of the spaces within our facility. This is reflected, for example, in the Peranakan touches throughout the lounge spaces, art and photography celebrating the local landscape and vertical green walls mirroring this garden city. We have strived to optimise the environmental quality for the health and well-being of customers and employees while delivering highly efficient, environmentally responsible operations.

Given the scale of the expansion, were there any challenges faced, and how were they overcome?

The ground-breaking for this expansion was held in February 2019, and while the project was expected to be completed in 2020, we inevitably faced delays and disruptions due the COVID pandemic, lockdowns etc. With travel restrictions, we also had to wait for the right time to be able to give the facility the inauguration and celebration it deserves, in the company of our partners and clients from all over the globe.

This project was certainly a labour of love with years of planning and support from many key parties. It could not have been possible without the outstanding support by the Singapore Government, especially EDB and JTC, and their hard-working account managers, and CAAS and CAG, who have provided the regulatory support and guidance that has been instrumental for our facility and team to grow. We are also thankful for the strong support from the High Commission of Canada in Singapore, the team from Boustead Projects Limited, and so many others.

Of course, exceptional service cannot happen without the commitment and expertise of outstanding and passionate talent. I am immensely proud of my incredible team at the Singapore Service Centre. They have demonstrated amazing flexibility and resilience in providing customers with an outstanding service experience the past two years – and pushed on tirelessly since we set foot onsite back in 2013 through the expansion of the site. I applaud everyone on my team for their resiliency, creativity, and flexibility throughout these challenging times.

Will Bombardier be looking to augment its workforce to augment the new capabilities and services?

The Singapore Service Centre currently employs more than 200 staff, including more than 160 licensed engineers and technicians. Our original commitment in setting up this facility was to hire 230, but we believe we will surpass that number. In fact, we are already in the process of adding more than 50 additional staff.

To ensure we continue to provide our customers with outstanding service for years to come, we are always planning for the future. Earlier this year, we instituted and launched a comprehensive apprenticeship programme to train the engineering professionals of tomorrow and create a strong talent pipeline for years to come. The 45-month Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer training programme is conducted in conjunction with Temasek Polytechnic (TP), with support from the government.

Trainees receive comprehensive theoretical classroom training for 1.5 years at TP followed by two (2) years of on-the-job training at Bombardier Singapore Service Centre, where they will be offered a wide range of learning opportunities, including detailed hands-on mechanical engineering work on Bombardier aircraft. The trainees get an opportunity to earn a CAAS license to qualify as certified Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers.

Thank you, Simon, for an inspiring conversation. Finally, can you share with us what you are looking forward to next?

I am looking forward to welcoming more customers to our amazing new home! Keeping our jets flying and providing unsurpassed turn-key service solutions for our customers is precisely what they demand and deserve, and our enhanced Singapore Service Centre will provide them all aspects of service excellence.

As a company, Bombardier is expanding our worldwide service footprint by one (1) million square feet as part of our mission to provide the best support to our customers. At the same time, we’re evolving our portfolio – our new Global 8000 business jet, the industry flagship, will have an unmatched range of 8,000 nautical miles, which is ideal for customers in this region. This will be the fastest, most luxurious aircraft ever built, and we are looking forward to introduce it to customers here in Asia-Pacific when it enters into service in 2025.