Company Background
Apex Composites Inc. was founded in 2002 as a supplier and repair facility for race car body work. We have evolved over the years, and our strengths have led us to specialize in complex aerospace and defence part manufacturing. Our experience and expertise in carbon fibre composites design and manufacturing has also allowed us to succeed with ventures in the high performance sporting goods market, namely, paddle and snow sports.
Commitment to Quality
Apex’s Quality Management System is ISO 9001:2008 registered and currently in the process of becoming AS9100C registered. Our process controls consist of 100% Critical Point Inspection; the use of standardized build instruction documentation that is issued for every part and the use of CATIA V5 Composites Design environment for optimizing layup procedures and material usage. The same commitment to quality, that is essential to succeeding as an aerospace manufacturer, is applied to our sporting goods products.
How We Got into the Paddle Business
In the late 90s, Apex president, Gerry Kavanaugh caught the dragon boating bug. With his background in carbon fibre design and fabrication, Gerry took one look at his club's heavy, water-logged wooden paddles and knew he could do better. The Apex paddle business was born.
Gerry sold his first dragon boat paddles personally, travelling to festivals and races with a duffel bag full of paddles. Coaches, club managers and festival organisers loved the bullet-proof Durablade.
Advanced paddlers bought up every Accelerator he could build, preferring its build quality and light weight over the Chinese-made alternatives.
2006 World Championships
Apex made a big splash at the 2006 World Club Crew Championships where the False Creek team took home four gold medals while equipped with Apex Accelerators.
With this dramatic result, Apex was on the map as the leading carbon fibre dragon boat paddle in the world.
Apex Scores Olympic Gold
Apex's reputation extends beyond the world of paddle sports. In 2009, Canada's "Own the Podium" program came knocking. Canada's snowboard racers needed carbon fibre design and fabrication expertise.
6 months and 14 prototypes later, the Apex Race Plate was born. Designed to dampen and isolate the racers feet from the twisting and bending snowboard, the Apex Race Plate turned the snowboard racing community on its head.
The Canadian team disguised their plates in duct tape and MacTac to keep it away from the prying eyes of the competition. In its debut season, Apex-equipped Canadians won 11 World Cup podiums including 5 victories.
And on a wet and foggy February morning, on the second last day at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games, Jasey Jay Anderson won gold in the Parallel Giant Slalom event.
Answering the Challenge of Growth
Apex's business growth presented a challenge for Gerry. How would Apex respond to growing demand from aerospace sector while maintaining its momentum in snow and paddle sports?
Enter Toronto based entrepreneur, Henry Kim. With his expertise in start-up ventures, Internet marketing and e-commerce, Henry figured he might have the right formula to grow the sports side of the Apex business.
In Henry’s words:
"Years of experience in carbon fibre composites, a passion for quality and performance design, a world class manufacturing facility – what’s not to like about Apex? They just need a little help spreading the word and bringing the product to market."
That brings us to Fall 2010 and the re-launch of www.apexpaddles.com.
Our commitment:
- Quality: We will continue to make our dragon boat paddles in our aerospace quality facility in Burlington, Canada. We will not outsource to any overseas manufacturer where we cannot control and ensure quality.
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Customer Service: We will answer your pre-sales questions promptly and provide world-class product support and service.
- Commitment to Dragon Boating: We will support dragon boat racing. Our products will always be specifically designed to meet the needs of the racing community.
