Welcome to Alexandre Bertrand, P.Eng., MBA, Oneka’s New VP Operations

We are pleased to welcome Alexandre Bertrand, P.Eng, MBA, as Vice President of Operations. A leader at heart, he has a solid background in growth strategy. Over the years, he has acquired significant international business experience having developed the supply chain for several products and partnerships in China, India and the United States. Results-oriented, Alexandre is a strong team player and knows how to get his colleagues to surpass themselves collectively to take the company to the next level. Through the various roles he has held, he has become very versatile in programming, manufacturing process automation, transferring and adding production lines, 2D and 3D drawings, R&D, manufacturing, data analysis, continuous improvement and quality management. 

Alexandre joins the team as we are ready to develop our buoy that will allow us to serve the municipal and large industrial market, in addition to starting the production of Iceberg class buoys. As an expert in operations management, engineering and manufacturing, he will be responsible for implementing industrial processes that will allow Oneka to have optimal productivity and ensure the manufacture of reliable, high quality buoys.

Alexandre’s Background

With nearly 20 years of experience, Alexandre has held various positions including executive positions in manufacturing companies at various stages of development. 

Most recently, he held the position of General Manager of Engineering at Toyoda Gosei, a company that designs and manufactures seals for Toyota, Honda, Ford Stellantis and GM vehicles. He was responsible for a team of 65 workers from seven departments working on the production of automotive parts as well as its automation. 

Previously, he was Vice President of Engineering at Savaria Concord Lifts Inc., a company that designs, develops and manufactures products to help people gain personal mobility (elevators, wheelchair accessible vans, etc.). From 2007 to 2020, he held various positions within the organization and contributed to increasing the value of the company’s stock, which rose from $1 to $21 on the Toronto Stock Exchange during this period. In addition to conveying the company’s vision to his teams, he also gathered resources to design an online quote creation tool, set up KPIs and managed statistical analysis to guide sales and management in their decision making. 

From 2011 to 2018, Alexandre held two positions, Director of Distribution and Director of Engineering, where he managed a multidisciplinary and multicultural team of more than 34 workers, IT, draftsmen and engineers, in addition to maintaining an annual growth of 50% in a booming market. Being closely involved in the development of the company’s strategic plan, he was able to put in place the required processes and tools to improve the company’s operational efficiency. At the same time, he also ensured the relocation of a plant, representing 125,000 square feet.  

From 2009 to 2011, he was Supervisor of Mechanical Engineering during which he was responsible for a team of 7 mechanical engineers and draftsmen. This role allowed him to accomplish many things, including the implementation of two new production lines imported from Europe and the management of an AutoCad architectural drawing automation project. Alexandre was also responsible for continuous improvement and quality.

Within the same company, he also held the position of Project Manager in 2008 and Production Engineer in 2007. 

From 2006 to 2007, Alexandre held various roles at Garant GP, the leading manufacturer of snow removal and gardening tools: product development engineer, project manager and CIT manager. Through these various roles, he has completed a 2 million/year cost reduction project by transferring production from Ireland to India, implemented a new product implementation program, led a Kaizen project to modify the plant layout (lean manufacturing), developed international business relationships, managed research and development, implemented 4 new production lines, and developed a 100% autonomous machine requiring no operator, which reduced manufacturing costs. 

Alexandre holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Laval University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto.