OAKVILLE, Ontario, (October 26, 2009) – VAC AERO International’s Polish subsidiary, VAC AERO Kalisz Sp. z o.o, has been awarded grants totaling 6.4 million PLN (approximately 2.4 million CDN dollars) through the European Union’s New Innovative Investments Program. The grants will support 60% of the company’s investment to establish a new special processes facility in the Aviation Valley region of southeast Poland, specifically in the Free Economic Zone (FEZ) near Rzeszow. The Rzeszow-area FEZ is a burgeoning center for aerospace manufacturing. In March 2010, VAC AERO Kalisz will begin construction of a 2,000 m2 (20,000 ft2) building and expects to be in operation at the new site by January 2011. Services offered will include vacuum and atmosphere brazing and heat treating, robotically controlled thermal spray, inorganic paint coatings and a recently developed cold spray process. Within two years, the new facility expects to employ a workforce of 35 people.
The new grants are in addition to the 1.7 million PLN (approximately 660,000 CDN dollars) in EU grants awarded earlier this year to VAC AERO’s Kalisz, Poland facility to support the purchase of new heat treating and coating equipment.