Vining Engineering and Salvage Team

Located on on Solaris VII, the Vining Engineering and Salvage Team or VEST, is one of the most innovative BattleMech design firms in the Inner Sphere.

Overview
VEST began as a five-person BattleMech salvage operation in the Solaris VII led by engineering genius and ex-NAIS graduate Dr. David Courtney Vining, producing refitted Solaris designs for the Games. During the initial Clan Invasion, Vining took the unusual step of leading his design team to the front lines to see first hand the amazing technology of the invaders. While rumor holds they brought back captured Clan-tech, the only thing certain is that VEST designs showed vast improvements when they returned, slowly gaining the firm a reputation as one of innovative design groups for battlefield technology in the Inner Sphere.

While continuing to hand build 'Mechs for the arenas, unlike many of the other niche cottage industry Solaris manufacturers, VEST have had great success in selling their designs to larger manufacturing firms, most notable the Jackal and Grand Titan produced by Earthwerks Incorporated.

The Jihad was particularly brutal on Solaris VII, and VEST was heavily damaged, suffering heavy capital and personnel losses of 92%, and the operating capacity of the factory is down to only 4% of their full production volume in 3072. By 3079 they lost 95% of their staff and production plants, and in 3079 they were only able to operate at 15% of their pre-Jihad production. This still put them ahead of every other Solaris based manufacturer, all of whom lost the ability to produce BattleMechs. To rebuild and recruit new staff members, they issued an IPO in 3079 to raise 600,000,000 kroner. In 3079 they had shut down every production line except those for the Heliopolis and Valiant.

Leadership
The company's CEO in 3067 is Doctor David C. Vining.

Manufacturing
VEST has a manufacturing center on the following planet: