Vision Technology Systems, the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore’s ST Engineering, this week will change its name to ST Engineering North America, a rebranding that better aligns it with its parent and presents a more consistent market brand to its customers and other constituents.
In addition to adopting the name ST Engineering North America effective June 30, the Virginia-based arm of ST Engineering is also undertaking a backend integration effort to drive efficiencies and reduce costs, Tom Vecchiolla, president and CEO of ST Engineering North America, told Defense Daily in a telephone interview last Friday.
Vision Technology Systems is better known as VT Systems, but it goes to market under a variety of names, including VT Halter Marine, VT Marine, VT Miltope, VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering, VT MAK, iDirect and others. The U.S.-based business does about $1.5 billion in annual sales, has around 5,000 employees, and has 15 operating units located in 17 cities in 13 states.
Vecchiolla said as VT Systems, the company “had no tie to the parent,” adding that there is also confusion in the market because of another company named VTS.
“There is no brand awareness,” Vecchiolla said. ST Engineering, which was founded through the consolidation of a number of companies in Singapore, about two years ago embarked on a branding and integration effort called “One ST,” and change to ST Engineering North America and centralized back office functions stem from that, he said.
ST Engineering North America operates through four business segments, with Aerospace the largest, Marine, Electronics and Land Systems. Vecchiolla said that recent wins by VT Halter Marine are putting the Marine segment on a trajectory to be similar in size with Aerospace in the next 18 to 24 months. Those wins include a potential $244 million contract with the Navy for up to six berthing vessels and a $9 million award for further design and long-lead purchase for a new Navy oceanographic research ship.
VT Halter Marine in April won a $746 million contract from the Coast Guard to design and build the first new heavy polar icebreaker for the service in more than 40 years, the first of at least three Polar Security Cutters (PSC). Vecchiolla said the PSC award will help “level load” the shipyard’s workforce.
ST Engineering North America’s sales mirror the parent company’s, with about 70 percent of the business commercial and 30 percent defense. Vecchiolla said as the new work with the Navy transitions to ship construction in the next two years, the defense side of the U.S. operations will rise some.
ST Engineering’s North America’s Electronics segment also recently won a potential $95 million contract to provide simulation software and training management as part of the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment. That work was won by the company’s VT MAK business unit.
In both the commercial and defense portfolios, Vecchiolla said ST Engineering North America is pursuing organic growth and acquisitions.
For the backend integration, ST Engineering North America will be moving to shared services in areas like information technology, healthcare, and payroll, Vecchiolla said.
“We had 15 of everything,” he said. “So, we had 15 healthcare plans, 15 IT structures, 15 payroll systems. You know, go down the list. We’re putting in common services … that we can increase efficiency and effectiveness across the business.”
The U.S. business, which is essentially a holding company, also “cleaned up” some of its non-operating aspects, such as “shells and holding companies that really weren’t performing or serving a purpose,” Vecchiolla said. Instead, ST Engineering North America is just aligning itself along the corporate structure of its parent, he said.
Vecchiolla highlighted that the integration activities are strictly in the back-office and not at the operating level. He said the company’s “well known” product names such as Halter will remain but “everything will be under the master brand of ST Engineering.”
ST Engineering, the Singapore-based company, does more than $5 billion in annual sales and has 22,000 employees worldwide.