May 27, 2010

FEATURE | Steel

Ridsdale Metal Products Inc. seeks Canadian Welding Bureau certification

MARY BAXTER

correspondent

A Cambridge-based custom metal fabricating shop is making a big change so it can step up to better serve one of its major clients, an elevator builder.

Ridsdale Metal Products Inc., in operation since 1921, has specialized in elevator components for 15 years and is about to raise the bar on its operations by seeking a Canadian Welding Bureau certification to meet industrial, commercial and institutional safety standards.

Jim Blacklock, Ridsdale’s president, says the company serves four residential sector elevator manufacturers: “They’d be pretty close to 50 per cent of our sales.”

The company does not currently have Canadian Welding Bureau certification, so the frames it produces cannot be used in ICI sectors because of safety regulations. One of its long-time customers, Cambridge Elevating Inc., which has expanded into these sectors, has encouraged Ridsdale’s owners to obtain the certification.

MARY BAXTER

Ridsdale Metal Products Inc. has specialized in elevator components like this interior.

Derek Moorse, the Cambridge’s operations manager, says his company has expanded into commercial and institutional markets with a limited use/limited access (LULA) elevator. The elevator can travel 30 to 50 feet, depending on codes and variances, and has been placed in hockey arenas, schools and old age homes in Ontario.

“We entertained it and moved into it during the housing crisis that we’ve started to come out of,” says Moorse, explaining about 70 per cent of the company’s business was serving the U.S. residential sector. “They were affected by this housing slump dramatically, so we had to rethink some of our business strategies.”

While there are plenty of competitors offering elevators to these sectors, he says demand is growing. Provincial legislation governing accessibility for people with disabilities is gaining momentum. Standards for customer service were introduced for public sector organizations this year and will take effect for qualifying private business and organizations in 2012.

Moorse says Ridsdale already supplies some of the LULA’s interior, non-safety related components. A Kitchener-based fabricator supplies the welded frames. But Moorse says his company would consider nearby Ridsdale for the work, once it obtains the welding accreditation.

Having a local fabricator enhances his company’s competitiveness, he explains.

“Not everything is price,” Moorse says. “Quality control is crucial.” Ordering custom fabricated parts like Ridsdale’s offerings from farther away might save on prices but adds to time to obtaining them and means a longer process if a correction is needed.

“If I can control more elements locally, then I just have that much more ability give a better product quickly.”

Blacklock says he expects Ridsdale will obtain its certification in the next couple of months.

There are a couple of weld tests completed, and a verbal test that the company’s weld supervisor has to complete.

Obtaining the right qualifications is all a part of keeping competitive, he says and can also lead to other opportunities.

Most of the work will involve a limited production run at the 15,000-square-foot facility, but not all.

A couple of the manufacturers build customized units.

“The car frame stuff might stay the same but the components that are going into the cab unit and all of that stuff will be different,” he says.

Making the frames takes “a lot of material,” laser cutting forming, plating and some welding.

Asked if Ridsdale might look at larger-scale elevator companies after certification, Blacklock responds with a “perhaps” but not if it means stepping on current customers’ toes.

“We have built some very quality business relationships with the current business customers we have,” he says.

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