Chamco Industries - 50 Years

50 Years in the Making

Credibility, expertise, knowledge and experience

O

n the eastern edge of Calgary in the Shepard Industrial Park, Chamco Industries Ltd. quietly goes about their business. They are one of a handful of companies that has survived – for decades – throughout the economic peaks and valleys synonymous with Alberta’s business climate. And like most successful companies they have learned to adapt, evolve and grow to meet the needs of an ever-changing landscape.

Chamco is a service, equipment and modular engineered system supplier of compressed air and pump products. They provide superior expertise in the design, engineering and fabrication of packaged systems across a broad range of sectors that include mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, energy, forestry and the oilsands.

Their philosophy is simple and speaks to their success: to provide the highest quality products through standards of excellence in workmanship and service. They hire the best people available and they are committed to delivering exceptional value.

The year 2012 marks their 50th anniversary and for the 130 people who call Chamco home, their history translates to one common goal: it’s five decades of garnering expertise to better service their customers’ needs.

When the company was founded in 1962, they were based out of Vancouver and sold pumps to the mining business. During the 1980s, the mining industry was struggling and in a strategic move to diversify, Chamco opened offices in Alberta to service the oil and gas sector. They forged relations with additional manufacturers and by 2000, they diversified again to offer engineered products and services.

“In addition to selling other companies’ products

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we started to do a significant amount of engineering and fabrication ourselves,” explains Malcolm Cox, president and CEO. “We work hard to understand our customers’ requirements, solve their problems and strive to deliver exceptional value.”

Since 2005, Chamco has operated with two divisions: a services business and packaging business.

The services division manages the day-to-day transactions of selling parts, maintenance and repairs, and they have five branch offices throughout Alberta and B.C.

Interactive Approach Chamco provides “lunch and learn” short technical education sessions that are a useful guide for those involved in designing and selecting engineered systems.

Step inside Chamco’s engineered systems – built right in front of your eyes – at their Calgary manufacturing facility. Minimum of eight people per tour.

The packaging division provides the engineering, design and fabrication work for large-scale projects such as fire pump packages and pump barges used in mining and oilsands operations.

When you look at the people behind the Chamco name, it’s not surprising to find that many of them have been with the company for a long time. “We have an interesting mix of people within the company: many have been with us from the early years and since we’ve grown quite a bit, we have had the privilege of adding new people to our team,” says Cox.

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Services Division Chamco services and distributes topof-the-line, high-quality air compressors, centrifugal and diaphragm pumps to the western Canadian industrial, energy, commercial, manufacturing and utility markets. They are the exclusive distributor for the Sullair, Peerless and Domnick Hunter brands. They also distribute Cornell, Grundfos and Versa Matic products.

Their highly-knowledgeable team of service technicians can service and repair all types of air compressors and pumps 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Packaging Division Chamco provides complete engineering systems offering comprehensive design, fabrication, installation and commissioning capabilities. Their modular packages are assembled, tested and shipped as complete as possible while meeting all jurisdictional regulations and transportation restrictions. Backed by a responsive and mobile service division, Chamco is the right partner to manufacture any engineered modular system.

“We have a good balance of people with product knowledge, history and experience while the newer employees bring fresh ideas and experiences. By blending the newer and older cultures, it benefits the entire company and our customers,” he adds.

“We believe our people are the key to our success.

We encourage our employees to use their talents to foster success with each other, our business partners and customers.”

The employee loyalty speaks to how Chamco runs their business. “The longevity of our operation is unique because the employee loyalty flows through every layer of the organization,” adds Juanita Allan, vice president, operations. “Several of our key production lead hands have been with us for many

Malcolm Cox and Juanita Allan

years and that’s significant given the current labour environment – people cross the street for an extra buck all the time.”

Approximately half of the 130 employees are located out of Chamco’s head office in Calgary, while the other half are found throughout Western Canada at their branch offices in Airdrie, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Prince George and Surrey, B.C. “Our culture is somewhat unique and we try to see ourselves as being technically stronger than other companies at what we do, so we are always pursuing innovative methods and solutions to provide alternatives that no one else can offer,” explains Cox. “I’ve sat in a number of meetings where we’ve gone through technical presentations and you can sense when things start to turn in our favour. The customer wants to deal with people who have the best knowledge and experience to solve their problems. They can be somewhat skeptical at first,” asserts Cox. “At some point, the customer turns to the Chamco team and acknowledges our expertise because it doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

Looking forward, Cox believes Chamco’s future is limited only by the company’s imagination. “Chamco has the ability to grow significantly; to develop new products, expand our expertise and services, but it needs to be done on the same basis that we’ve grown our success to date,” he remarks.

“We need to continually figure out solutions that are helpful to our customers and do it better than anyone else. If we can do that, then the company will continue to grow and be successful. As we create more opportunities, we will need more people.

As we move through the growth, more ideas emerge and the company continues to evolve. We are a wellfunded company, we have a strong balance sheet and we are limited only by our imaginations,” he adds with a smile.

HEAD OFFICE:

Chamco Industries Ltd. 8900 Venture Avenue SE • Calgary, AB www.chamco.com 403.777.1200

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