From Farm Tractors to Nuclear Reactors

From Farm Tractors to A local machine shop that likes variety Nuclear Reactors

BY PHIL GAUDREAU If you are a business owner and you need a custom part made for your assembly line or to fix a piece of equipment, where do you turn?

In Belleville, The Machining Center has been the place to go for 30 years.

The company that started as a oneperson shop has grown to 20 employees offering full-service manufacturing, including machining, fabrication, engineering and design. They work with companies from a wide range of sectors including nuclear, food, aerospace, oil and automotive.

“You never know what you’re going to be working on. I couldn’t tell you what we‘re going to be making before Christmas, because it could be all kinds of interesting jobs from people walking in the door,” says Paul Vreugdenhil, The Machining Center’s operations manager.

There’s no typical job for The Machining Center – they’ve worked on projects as small as $50 to ones as large as $100,000; from replacing small broken tractor parts for a local farmer to making equipment for large factories such as Kellogg’s and Procter & Gamble.

“Our employees love the variety of work,” Vreugdenhil adds. “Since we do work for so many sectors of manufacturing, our employees are constantly challenged with a wide range of machining and fabrication problems to solve. Figuring out the best way to do the jobs every day is something that our team thrives on.”

The shop has a big focus on teamwork, as employees are constantly working with each other to try different processes and find the most effective way of producing the part to meet the client’s need.

To keep up with the ever-changing projects they receive, they hold regular training sessions and use on-the-job mentoring to help develop different skills. It’s no surprise, then, the main thing they look for in new hires is a passion for learning and problem solving.

“We look for people that aren’t afraid of computers but also are able to turn a wrench,” says Vreugdenhil. “Because we do a lot of computer-controlled machining, it is a challenge for us to find people that are willing to learn computer functions and be able to do the programming.”

That can be a surprise for some, who might think of jobs in steel and aluminum as working strictly hands-on with the metals themselves.

Canada produces 13 billion tonnes of steel products in a year, creating 22,000 jobs directly and employment for another 100,000 people in related industries. While some of those jobs are in steel mills, most of which are located in Ontario, others can be found at companies turning those steel products into parts and equipment for the energy, advanced manufacturing, construction and auto-making sectors.

While a lot of Canadian steel and aluminum heads to the US, in The Machining Center’s case the work primarily stays local. Building relationships within the community is key because many of their customers are repeats or referrals. They often work with the local high schools and Loyalist College, taking on placement students to give them hands-on experience.

Vreugdenhil says the company is always looking for prospective hires who demonstrate engagement and interest with the company. “We need young apprentices who want to learn and hone their skills,” he says.

To show examples of what they are teaching, teachers often direct students to The Machining Center’s website and social media platforms. Want an easy, COVID-proof way, to go behind the scenes at their Belleville shop? Check out their Instagram account, where they boast 70,000 followers.