Following the collapse of a composite aircraft design company in South Africa in 2006, Errol van Rensburg and a group of investors saw an opportunity to create a new business. Now, four years on, Global Composite Solutions, or GCS, is a successful aeronautical manufacturing company.

Explaining where the original business went wrong, van Rensburg says: “The company invested quite a lot of resources in the development of a new aerobatic aircraft for the advanced aerobatic market. The aircraft, called the Slick 360, went on to win the South African National Aerobatic championship on its first outing, and consequently an order was received for another four aircraft. Unfortunately, the company was more geared towards design and development, and as a result, concentrated so much on these issues that the manufacturing, sales and marketing never kept up with the potential of the aircraft. As a result, the original company was closed down in July 2006.

“However, we saw this as an opportunity as they had a wealth of experienced, hands-on personnel. Unfortunately, the company was not financially viable.”

As a result, van Rensburg, along with the other investors, started a new company with an entirely different strategy – to design, develop and manufacture aeronautical aftermarket components and products in order to ensure a more viable cash situation.

He says: “There was no investment available at the time to help establish GCS in South Africa. So the company that you see today was built entirely from investors’ own money and generated income.” Van Rensburg admits that it was a slow process. “We could have grown a lot faster but it would have been financed by different institutions, and we all opted to try to be debt free,” he says.

GCS’s subsequent growth is even more admirable when you consider what its founders and investors were up against.
 
NICHE MARKET
Finance was not the only hurdle to overcome. Van Rensburg and the management team wanted to position the company in a niche market — the niche being the fast, efficient design, prototyping, and manufacture of aviation products.

“The problem with most aviation products is that the time to develop through maturity of products can take anything up to three years,” he points out. GCS has developed a prototype surveillance system in only four weeks, an achievement that van Rensburg hails as “unheard of” in the industry.

“The integration of a whole missile warning and deterrent system was done in only four months which, in normal military environments, the development thereof would probably take years. This can only be done with a dedicated team of personnel and a “CAN DO” attitude.”

Van Rensburg acknowledges that R&D is an expensive and time-consuming function within any manufacturing company, a reason why GCS is placing more emphasis on the production itself.

“We are streamlining our processes to be more production-oriented than development oriented,” he says. “Production carries you through the tough times and makes financial sense. We will, however, concentrate on specific projects for which we believe there is a market.” Today, the company can offer around eight different certified aviation related products. Products include the Slick 360 Aircraft, Air Conditioning Systems, Aircraft Seats, Missile Deterrent systems, Cargopods, Aerial Delivery Systems and UAV Manufacture.

GCS utilises a range of different modern composite materials in the manufacture of its products, including woven fibre glass, carbon, Kevlar, etc, all of which are aviation grade composite materials.

GCS has comprehensive composite production processes in place which include Wet Lay-up Lamination, Vacuum Compaction, Pre-preg lamination and Autoclave processing.

The pre-pack process involves autoclave curing. “We’ve got a fairly large autoclave in which the materials are cured,” says van Rensburg. “For that, we use pre-pregnated materials, where the resin is impregnated in the fibre glass or carbon.”

Some of the industry’s large manufacturers, such as Boeing, use this process.

ONGOING PROJECTS
GCS is careful to pick projects that add value, says van Rensburg. It is currently developing Civil Aviation Missile Protection System (CAMPS), a missile deterrent system. Developed in conjunction with South African company, Naturelink, which supplies services to the United Nations, it will be installed on aircraft to be deployed in sensitive areas.

According to van Rensburg the system automatically dispenses Piro-phoric tablets that create a heat signature similar to that of an aircraft engine when threatened by a Ground to Air missile. The missile follows the heat trail left by the deterrent system.

GCS is also busy working on an observation platform for the PAL 750 XSTOL aircraft, which typically have a short take-off and landing time. “The surveillance units fitted onto this aircraft are used for border control, police surveillance, and for anti-poaching surveillance,” he adds. The company is working on this project with the National Airways Corporation (NAC) and Zeiss Optronics, which supplies the infra-red camera equipment. GCS is responsible for the Composite Cargo Pod, as well as the Mechanical Drives and platforms that lower and retract the system into the Cargo Pod. GCS further manages the integration of the complete system onto the aircraft.

Additionally, GCS is focusing on auxiliary fuel tanks for the A350 Eurocopter. “These composite fuel tanks add another hour flying time, and fitting and removing the tanks can be done within one minute. We believe these auxiliary tanks are a fantastic product and a serious production possibility,” he says.

Long-term, the company aims to establish production lines with the emphasis on two or three products. In addition, it will continue to establish and maintain multi-year contracts for worldwide military suppliers. These types of contracts form the backbone of the business.

Looking back at its growth over the last four years, van Rensburg reveals that turnover is up 450 percent since the start of the company in 2006. The company now has its sights set on achieving a minimum of 20 percent growth per year, which should be possible given its past and recent achievements.