Cyclone Manufacturing earns top honour as Ontario’s 2017 Exporter of the Year
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
11 innovative Ontario companies with growing international footprints were honoured at the 2017 Ontario Export Awards, including the aerospace parts maker that supplies Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier
Winners of the 2017 Ontario Export Awards at the Nov. 21 gala in Mississauga, Ont. From left to right: Stephane Levesque (SRB), Eleanor Hodgson (Senstar), Lori Holjevac (ClimateWorx), Peter Snucins (Polycorp), Jacqueline Cooper (InterAxon), Irene Ostap (Pack-Smart), Lily Sochaj and Andrew Sochaj (Cyclone), Sam Kohn (kubik) Jillian Pyper (Kii Naturals), Matt Stevens (FleetCarma) PHOTO: Donna Santos Studio
TORONTO—Ontario aerospace firm Cyclone Manufacturing Inc. took home the top prize at the 2017 Ontario Export Awards, an annual event that honours some of the province’s most successful businesses that forge out beyond the Canadian border into the international marketplace.
Cyclone, which builds aircraft components for the world’s largest plane makers, including Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Lockheed Martin, edged out more than 25 finalists at this year’s awards gala at Mississauga, Ont.’s International Centre Nov. 21.
“It’s a big accomplishment for the team,” said Daniel Dobrjanski, the company’s vice-president of Business Development, at the event. “It takes a lot of dedication, sacrifices and a lot of sleepless nights.”
“We are competing against Mexico, against China, against India—a lot of the low-cost locations—so one of the main challenges is to be competitive in front of the OEM and the large Tier 1,” he added. “But leveraging that with the employees that we have and having a very integrated manufacturing process is how we actually win that work with the large OEMs.”
Cyclone has four Ontario plants and employs about 700 workers
Based in Mississauga, the company has gone from a small family business renting space on the west end of Toronto in the mid-1960s to a major international aerospace components manufacturer with hundreds of employees. It opened its first international production plant in Poland in 2013, but the majority of its manufacturing footprint remains in Ontario.
Earlier this year, Cyclone started work on a $65 million expansion at one of its plants in the Toronto suburbs. It expects the addition of new processing lines and 80,000 extra sq. ft. of production space to translate to 132 new Ontario jobs.
Along with adding to its Ontario operations, Cyclone has its sights set on landing new contracts with new customers around the world over the next few years. The company pointed to South Korea specifically as one market it has been working hard to add to its list of customers.
Cyclone led the roster of 11 winners at this year’s Ontario Export Awards.
Presented by CanadianManufacturing.com and Plant, the Ontario Export Awards honour some of the province’s most innovative companies that take fresh approaches to business overseas while making a substantial contribution to Ontario’s economy.
The 2017 awards were sponsored by HSBC Bank Canada and SYSPRO Canada, among others.
