Bombardier Inc.
| Company type | Public: (TSX: BBD.B TSX: BBD.A) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace / Railways |
| Founded | Valcourt, Quebec (1942) |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Key people | Joseph-Armand Bombardier, founder |
| Products | Aircraft, trains, trams |
| Revenue | $14.7 billion USD (2006) |
Number of employees | 59,550 (2006) |
| Website | http://www.bombardier.com/ |
Bombardier Inc. (IPA: [/bɔ̃baʁdje/]) is a Canadian company, founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier as L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in 1942, at Valcourt in the Eastern Townships, Quebec. Over the years it has been a large manufacturer of regional aircraft, business jets, rail transportation equipment, recreational equipment and a financial services provider. Its headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
History
Joseph-Armand Bombardier was a mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow." In 1937, he designed and produced his first snowmobile in his small repair shop in Valcourt, Quebec.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier's technological breakthrough in the design of bush vehicles came in the mid-1930s when he developed a drive system that revolutionized travel in snow and swampy conditions. In 1937, Armand sold 12 snowmobiles—named the B7 and, in 1942, created l'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée company.
The first snowmobiles were large, multi-passenger vehicles designed to help people get around during the long winter months.
Snowmobiles were used in rural Quebec to take children to school, carry freight, deliver mail, and, as ambulances. His invention filled a very particular need in the region and soon business was booming. In 1941, Armand opened a large new factory in Valcourt. Then a major setback hit the growing business: the Second World War was well underway and the Canadian government issued wartime rationing regulations. Bombardier customers had to prove that snowmobiles were essential to their livelihood in order to buy one. To keep his business going, Armand switched gears and developed vehicles for the military. After the war, Armand experienced another setback in his snowmobile business. In 1948, the Quebec government passed a law requiring all highways and local roads to be cleared of snow; Bombardier's sales fell by nearly half in one year. Armand therefore decided to diversify his business and make all-terrain vehicles for the mining, oil and forestry industries.
Of note, the machines had removable front skis that could be replaced with front wheels for use on paved or hard surfaces thus providing greater utility to his large snowmobiles. Production of these machines evolved over time. During 1951, the wooden bodies were replaced with sheet steel and these vehicles were powered by Chrysler flat head six cylinder engines and 3 speed standard transmissions. In the 1960s, V-8 engines began to appear and during the 1969/70 production years, the standard round "porthole"-style windows were replaced with larger rectangular windows which allowed more interior light and made them less claustrophobic feeling. Following these changes came the switchover to more reliable Chrysler Industrial 318 engines with the automatic Loadflite transmissions. Production of these machines continued into the mid-1970s.
Armand dreamed of developing a fast, lightweight snowmobile that could carry one or two people. In the early 1950s, Armand set aside his dream to focus on developing his company's other tracked vehicles. But by the end of the decade, smaller, more efficient engines had been developed and were starting to come on the market. Armand resumed his efforts to build a "miniature" snowmobile. He worked alongside his eldest son Germain, who shared his father's mechanical talents. Armand and Germain developed several prototypes of the lightweight snowmobile and finally, the first Bombardier snowmobile went on sale in 1959.
The Ski-doo was originally called the "Ski-Dog" because Bombardier meant it to be a practical vehicle to replace the dogsled for hunters and trappers. By an accident, a painter misinterpreted the name and painted "Ski-Doo" on the first prototype. The public soon discovered that speedy vehicles that can zoom over snow were a lot of fun. Suddenly a new winter sport was born, centred in Quebec. In the first year, Bombardier sold 225 Ski-Doos; four years later, 8,210 were sold. But Armand was reluctant to focus too much on the Ski-Doo and move resources away from his all-terrain vehicles. He vividly remembered his earlier business setbacks that forced him to diversify. Armand slowed down promotion of the Ski-Doo line to prevent it from dominating the other company products but still dominate the entire snowmobile industry. The snowmobiles produced were of exceptional quality and performance, earning a better reputation than the rival Polaris and Arctic Cat brand of motosleds. In 1975 Bombardier completed the purchase of the Moto-Ski company.
On 18 February 1964, J. Armand Bombardier died of cancer at age 56. He left behind a thriving business, but also one that had been focused on one person. Armand dominated his company, overseeing all areas of operation. He controlled the small research department, making all the drawings himself. By the time of his death sales of the company had reached C$20 million, which is the equivalent of C$160 million in 2004 dollars. The younger generation took over, led by Armand's sons and sons-in-law. The young team reorganized and decentralized the company, adopting modern business tactics. The company adopted the latest technological innovation—the computer—to handle inventory, accounts and billing. Distribution networks were improved and increased, and an incentive program was developed for sales staff.
In 1967, L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée was renamed Bombardier Limited and on January 23, 1969, the company went public, listing on the Montreal and Toronto stock exchanges.
Aerospace
After the Canadian government-owned Canadair aircraft manufacturing company had recorded the largest corporate loss in Canadian business history. Under the management of Laurent Beaudoin, Armand's son-in-law, Bombardier took over Canadair to form Bombardier Aerospace. Shortly after, de Havilland Canada from Boeing, the bankrupt Short Brothers and Learjet operations were added. The aerospace arm now accounts for over half of the company's revenue and is reportedly the third-largest civil aircraft manufacturer in the world behind the giants Boeing and Airbus. One of the latest aircraft by Bombardier is the Q400, a short range commercial aircraft. for more info go to http://www.bombardier.com/q400/en/home.jsp
Railway technology
In 1970, Bombardier acquired the Viennese company Lohner-Rotax, a manufacturer of snowmobile engines and tramways, and thus became involved in rail business. This section started to gain importance in the mid-1990s in the renaissance of tramways or "light-rail transit." Bombardier acquired the assets and designs of American Locomotive Company/Montreal Locomotive Works, which continued in the locomotive business until 1985. In 2001, Bombardier acquired ADtranz, the developer of the Class 170 Turbostar and Class 357/375/376/377 Electrostar trains which are widely used throughout Britain. They also built the Croydon Tramlink and Nottingham Express Transit trams and parts of Alstom's Eurostar trains.
Bombardier was one of the companies which took over British Rail's R&D facilities after privatisation (the remainder largely being absorbed into AEA Technology and Alstom). They were part of a major consortium in the construction of the Eurotunnel railway cars, and also built new subway trains for a wide range of customers including the Toronto Transit Commission, the Commission de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal, and the New York City Transit Authority (R62A, R142), noted for designing the Las Vegas Monorail system.
Bombardier is a UK Notified Body, under The Railways (Interoperability) (Notified Bodies) Regulations 2000, in one TSI area: rolling stock.
Bombardier Transportation also leads the development and production of the Acela Express train in a 75%–25% arrangement with Alstom. The train runs between Boston, Massachusetts, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. Bombardier provided carbody design and tilting mechanisms from its LRC ("Light Rapid Comfortable") line of passenger trainsets, and integrated a variant of Alstom's TGV propulsion system. This is the first high-speed rail line in North America, running at a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph). To meet U.S. government "Buy American" regulations, final assembly of these trains was carried out at Bombardier's U.S. rail car assembly facility in Barre, Vermont. Bombardier also provided seller-arranged financing to allow Amtrak to lease the trainsets rather than purchase them outright as the railroad had previously done.
Bombardier also made the Hiawatha Line light rail cars currently being operated in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Metro Transit.
With the acquisiton of ADtranz in 2001, Bombardier Transportation emerged as the largest manufacturer of railway rolling stock in the world. Depending on how one defines industrial activities, it is sometimes considered the largest in the world in this category. They pulled off a masterstroke in 2005 when they made John Martin redundant
Other interests
Bombardier was, until recently, a major Canadian defense contractor. With the latest restructuring, the company sold off nearly all of its military related work in Canada. Military Aviation Services was sold to SPAR Aerospace and land based defence products made by Urban Transportation Development Corporation ceased operations as Bombardier moved away from non-aviation defence products.
In 2003, Bombardier spun off as a separate company, the Bombardier Recreational Products division, or BRP. Their snowcats and snowmobiles dated back to the origins of the company; current brands are Ski-Doo and Lynx. Bombardier Recreational Products has also become well known for their Sea-Doo personal water craft division. Bombardier also makes ATVs (all terrain vehicles). In 2006, the ATV brand name changed from Bombardier ATV to Can-Am. Can-Am is the old name of the line of dirt bikes they made in the 80s.
Criticism
Bombardier has been criticized in Canada and abroad over the subsidies it receives from various levels of government. They have been described as beneficiaries of corporate welfare and accused of violating free trade agreements, especially by Brazil. Canada and Bombardier have countered by citing Brazil's direct and indirect subsidies to Embraer, its own major aircraft manufacturer and one of Bombardier's principal competitors in the regional jet market.
The government of Canada provided a large interest rate subsidy for the financing that made possible Bombardier's sale of subway trains to the New York City Subway. Some Canadians objected to such large sums of money being given to a private for-profit company, but the government had argued that the subsidies create many jobs. Recently, Bombardier initiated an engineering design agreement with an Indian company which subsidy critics argue may result in a loss of jobs in Canada[citation needed].
Bombardier's reputation has been tarnished in the western United States by its association with the privately-funded Las Vegas Monorail system, which has been operational since 24 December 2004 but was plagued by delays due to mechanical problems. The system reportedly lost US$85,000 per day during a four-month closure[citation needed].
Bombardier's reputation has also been damaged in the eastern United States because of defects in its high speed Acela Express, built for Amtrak. The high speed fleet has been taken out of service twice by the FRA for safety-critical defects due to poor manufacturing and design. The design has undergone numerous modifications since coming into service. [citation needed]
Recently, some human rights and Tibet support groups in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. have put pressure on Bombardier over its sale of passenger carriages to the People's Republic of China for projects including the controversial Qingzang railway line into Tibet.
In Finland, Helsinki City Transport has announced it is preparing to decomission all 40 Variotram low-floor tram cars on 14 May 2007, since satisfactory agreement with Bombardier over service costs, compensation or shipping back the cars has not been reached. Since entering service in Helsinki in 1999, the trams have been plagued by mounting technical problems.
Corporate governance
Current members of the board of directors of Bombardier Inc. are:
- Laurent Beaudoin;
- Pierre Beaudoin;
- André Berard;
- J.R. André Bombardier;
- Janine Bombardier;
- L. Denis Desauutels;
- Michael Durham;
- Jean-Louis Fontaine;
- Daniel Johnson, Jr.;
- Jean Monty;
- André Navarri;
- James Perrella;
- Carols Represas;
- Federico Sada;
- Heinrich Weiss.
Bombardier Museum
The Bombardier Museum is a large modern museum in Valcourt, Quebec dedicated to the life of Joseph-Armand Bombardier and the snowmobile as well as the industry he helped create. Formally opened in 1971, with substantial renovations in 1990, the museum is professionally curated and features a wide array of Ski-Doos and other industrial designs as well as a selection of related books, booklets and other items of interest to enthusiasts.
Also of note at the museum is the original Bombardier garage "factory" that was the genesis of the organization bearing the name. The garage was carefully removed from its original location in Valcourt and moved to its present site at the museum, which is located blocks away from the huge, present-day Bombardier Recreational Products factory.
References
- Descarries, Eric. "Autoneiges Bombardier: Des patenteux perpétuent la tradition." La Presse, 13 March 2006.
- Hadekel, Peter. Silent Partners: Taxpayers and the Bankrolling of Bombardier. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 2004. ISBN 1-55263-626-7.
- MacDonald, Larry.The Bombardier Story: Planes, Trains and Snowmobiles. Toronto: J. Wiley & Sons, 2001. ISBN 0-470-83196-0.
See also
- Arctic Cat
- Antarctic snow cruiser
- Logan Machine Company
- Moto-Ski
- Snowcat
- Sno-Cat
- Snow coach
- Snow grooming
- Snowmobiles
- Snow Trac
- Vintage snowmobiling
External links
- Bombardier Museum Official J. Armand Bombardier Museum Website
- Northern Tracks Bombardier Collector's Website
- Vintage Snowmobiles Moto-Ski Snowmobile History
- CBC Digital Archives - Bombardier: The Snowmobile Legacy
- Bombardier Company website
- Yahoo! - Bombardier Inc. Company Profile
- V/LineCars.com VLocity 160 Page - Comprehensive information on Bombardier's VLocity 160 type diesel multiple unit train made for V/Line, the passenger rail service operator in the state of Victoria, Australia.