By IAN ROSS
A Thunder Bay fencing company has retooled to pursue a cross-Canada market with new automated and more decorative products geared to the commercial and residential market.
With the region’s manufacturing base taking a beating in forestry, it was time for Northwest Fencing to change gears. They’re relying on a new product mix and an ambitious campaign to broaden their markets into Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“We have our sights set on all of Canada,” says company president Brent Sylvester.
The company has spent an estimated $500,000 in the last two years on new equipment, research and development and to renovate the front-end of their Alloy Drive location.
They’ve started producing patio and backyard accessories with decorative, ornamental fencing using vinyl and composite material.
This summer, the company moved in a CNC digital router and a high-speed weaving loom to make chain link mesh.
Northwest already makes automated gates for commercial uses where security is important. It’s become a big part of Sylvester’s business.
They’ve developed an All-Terrain Floating Fence used in the Far North for security around fuel depots and generating stations. It works well on permafrost since there’s no need for posts and can be a customized fit.
Historically, the company relied on foreign suppliers abroad to provide materials. Some problems that plague automated gates are matching all the different components to make a gate work safely and intelligently.
Sylvester invited Digital Engineering, a Thunder Bay industrial process controls company, to collaborate on a home-grown system that pulls all the operation and peripheral items into one unit.
Some prototypes have been installed locally strictly for product development.
The new high-tech product will headline a new division called Ingenuity Fence and Gate.
He calls it a “super-intelligent gate” that can self-diagnose problems and can phone home by cell or e-mail when problems arise.
“For example, a gate can be installed in Arizona and we can get online with the gate, monitor and troubleshoot problems for the customer.”
The modular components will be easy to diagnose and the company can overnight a new module for the customer to plug in.
Sylvester hopes to design an infrastructure where someone monitors the status of their gates.
Headquartered in Thunder Bay, the 25-employee company is known at their Winnipeg and Calgary offices as Palisade Fence Systems.There are no plans to shift manufacturing outside of Thunder Bay to the white-hot Alberta construction market.
Having worked there, Sylvester says there are many challenges for businesses to function including finding quality people willing to make a commitment for reasons other than top dollar.
“The people tend to be itinerant and the cost of living is horrible.
“It’s insanely busy and it’s grown so fast they haven’t been able to keep up. The infrastructure isn’t there to manage that many people.
“We live in a far better place. The pace here is much nicer and the people we have to choose from here are the best.”
The company has also identified the logistical means to distribute their product domestically.
With limited intermodal service in Thunder Bay to ship containerized goods from train onto truck, Sylvester plans to purchase two tractor trailers with flatbed decks to move products west and back-haul the materials needed for production.
“We’re making promises to our customers that we have to deliver on.”
