Build / Support / Sustain

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Hello all,

Welcome to another edition of On Watch! It’s a busy time for us all with various conferences and visits on my agenda such as the Deep Blue Forum 2023 in Ottawa and a trip to the Annual Quebec Shipbuilding Supply Chain meeting in Levis.  I am excited to share that very soon, we will be hosting 9 companies from 6 provinces in our Team Canada booth at the International WorkBoat Show at the end of the month. We plan to build on this national project with a more comprehensive suite of services for everyone next year and we`ll share more as they come together. If you are attending WB23, drop by the booth to say hello -it’s #3219 right on the main aisle of the hall. As always please check out the Events page on our website for other upcoming events and share with us any that we have missed.

We have had a few new members join us in the past few months. The following great companies have joined our ranks since the beginning of September:

Ethree offers consulting services, HR support, training, and coaching programs.

BNAC Environmental Solutions Inc. specializes in providing environmentally conscious lubricants tailored for the demanding marine environment, catering to marine clients.

Inland Liferafts & Marine Limited is a Canadian distributor that offers a wide variety of commercial and recreational marine safety products.

InnovMarine Inc. assists shipbuilders in making informed decisions through technology and standardized processes.

Calian Composites Ltd. provides services specific to composites engineering, metrology, and project planning.

JSquared Technologies Inc. which provides rugged electronic systems and comprehensive in-service support and maintenance, repair and overhaul. 

In this edition, we are featuring Viable Power’s Fadya Alhelo. Viable Power is a Montreal-based Canadian company that develops, tests, and maintains rugged power supply solutions ideal for marine environments. Viable Power places great value on using local and Canadian suppliers, and in hiring local talent, offers a tight-knit work environment as the company provides clients all over the world with high quality power solutions.

Our Member Spotlights highlight the experiences and stories of the women in our member companies, which we have always felt brought to light new perspectives in our industry. We are happy to feature this growing trend of the excellent work opportunities in the marine sector in Canada. On the topic of women in the sector, I want to share a gem I came across recently, an exhibition in the UK which uncovers the stories of women who worked in the shipbuilding industry in the North East during the First World War, Women in Shipbuilding. We are so pleased to be able to tell stories of women in shipbuilding in Canada today through our Member Spotlights.

If any members are interested in a Spotlight, with its unique editorial content, please let us know and we would be happy to arrange an interview and write up the feature. If you are not yet a member, but would like to be, we encourage you to join here! If you know of others who might benefit from membership, please share the sign-up link.

I hope you enjoy this fall edition and do send any suggestions you may have our way.

All the best to everyone!

Colin Cooke

President and CEO

Photo of Fadya Alhelo courtesy of Viable Power

Viable Power Conversion Technologies Inc. (Viable Power) is a Quebec-based power supply design and manufacturer specialist that develops custom solutions to meet the individual requirements of each customer, in the military aerospace, shipboard and naval, ground defence and industrial sectors. The company also supplies clients with power system-related accessories such as DC solid state relays, power control units, timed relay, and DC power distribution units.

In the Defense sector, Viable Power brings over 28 years of experience providing tailored rugged power supply solutions. A deep understanding of the challenging naval environments above and below deck for surface and sub-surface naval vessels is the basis of the company’s high-quality products and services for the solutions created for global military naval customers. Viable Power provides affordable design and quick turnaround manufacture, which saves clients a great deal of time and money.

Fadya Alhelo, part of the manufacturing staff, says, “The production team manufacturers to the highest standards to achieve the highest quality by following IPC soldering requirements and continuous training ensuring that we stay current. This reduces the risks of power supplies failing in the field. Our power supply units are made to endure, and this distinguishes us as a company. Many units are still in the field since the mid 1990s. They are easy to maintain, and we support the life of the units through maintenance, refurbishment, and upgrades. This is why we are on some very important programs in the military.” Viable Power designs its custom power supplies to meet the highest standards for shipboard applications, and rigorously tests its products on-site in Pointe-Claire to comply with the challenging requirements of naval environments, including temperature, vibration, shock, humidity, and electromagnetic compatibility. Each product also comes with ongoing lifetime support.

Fadya, who immigrated to Quebec from Syria in 1994, has been with Viable Power for 23 years and thrives in the small company that provides its employees with a sense of family. She is very proud to work in an environment where the future is so promising. “We have an excellent team and products of superior quality. We have so many clients that ask us to develop specific products for their unique naval projects, it is so inspiring.” The company hires locally, and sources from local and Canadian suppliers as much as possible, and these strong, local supplier relationships result in shorter lead times and reduced costs, which benefit Viable Power’s customers, and creates a strong and satisfying work environment for employees.

Fadya is also proud that third of the employees at Viable Power are women, making a significant contribution to the reliability of our products. “We have tremendous teamwork, we pick up seamlessly from each other and our workplace fosters friendships amongst the team. We have excellent leadership. I truly believe we have the best boss and that has inspired me to work here for so long.”

Fadya is also grateful to be part of CMISA. She feels there are great advantages of being part of a network of suppliers in the marine industry. With such specialized marine power supply units, being part of the association lets other companies know what each other can offer.

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HMCS Sackville

HMCS Sackville is the last surviving WWII corvette, and she needs your financial support to keep her afloat. These “cheap and nasties” were born out of a need to defend convoys from the German U-boat threat. Like their French naval predecessors, Canadian corvettes were built on an old single-hulled whaler design. We re-plated over the original steel in 2020, however Sackville requires a new hull to remain in the water for posterity.

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