July 2013 Vol. 27 No. 4

• Metal Cutting: Metrology

• Tooling: Cutting Composites

• Fabricating: Welding

Inside CIM this month

www.cimindustry.com

FABRICATING

Lise Baker is general manager of Champ Industries, which supplies stainless steel components and as-sembly for Magikist car wash units.

FABRICATING

By Sue Roberts, Associate Editor

L ise Baker, general manager of Champ Industries, Winni-peg, Man., entered the world

of metal fabricating at the urging of David Bridges, then owner and her stepfather. He had purchased a small, 5,000-sq.-ft., five-employee company in 1992 and expanded it to 55,000 sq. ft. and 60 employees in only six years.

“The company was rapidly growing and I was asked to help manage,” said Baker, whose nursing background is augment-ed by management experience. “I joined the company in 2004.”

Baker focuses on accessing the skills of the company’s work-force. Employees contribute to decisions that move the com-pany forward. “It’s not my style to micromanage. I ask what I can do to help get a job done and give the employees the auton-omy to do what is needed. Our employees determine how to do a job and make it their own.”

Glass Washers to Components

In 1967 a teenage Bridges was hired by industrial glass washer

manufacturer Paul Moore Co., also in Winnipeg. By 1988 Cham-pion Industries had purchased the company and Bridges had taken the lead as general manager.

“It was a big step for him,” said Baker, “but he had a keen sense of fabrication. He did a lot of soul-searching and reflection and took the step to ownership.” Renaming the company Champ Industries wasn’t a shortening of the previous name, it was a loving nod to Bridge’s favorite childhood dog. A paw print is tucked inside the letter p in the company logo.

There was one problem with manufacturing quality glass washers: The equipment would be 25 or 30 years old and still running well. New product or-ders were not increasing, but Bridges recognized the oppor-tunities available to help other companies meet their metal fab-rication needs. Diversification began, and the risk paid off.

Bridges used his contacts to develop relationships with lo-cal OEMs and became skilled at developing component parts for other customers. By 1998 Champ had outgrown the original shop and moved to a 30,000-sq.-ft.

facility at its current location. Two years later, an expansion to 55,000 sq. ft. nearly doubled the company size. As need for ca-pacity grew, more people, equip-ment, and shifts were added.

Steady Growth From New Technology

“The key thing that helped my stepfather develop his business

extremely quickly was the pur-chase of a laser cutting machine. Prior to that shears, punches, and saws did the majority of the work. Now nearly everything

Delivering Car Washers, Fuel Tanks, and More

Champ Industries produces components on both sides of the border

A stainless Champ logo graces the conference table where employees meet for production planning.

FABRICATING

starts at a laser. It’s much faster with greater precision and ac-curacy,” Baker said. The first flat laser was quickly joined by three others, along with CNC brakes. A recent addition is a 20-ft. TRUMPF® TruLaser 7000 tube la-ser with automation.

“A lot of our work for current customers required tube pro-cessing. We thought the tube la-ser would help us do the work quicker, become more competi-tive, and allow us to reduce our costs and extend the savings to our customers,” said Baker. “And it diversified our business. With the tube laser there were new pro-cesses that we could implement in order to reduce waste, improve operational efficiency, and reduce costs. We were able to help many

of our customers consider a rede-sign of their products to improve upon the overall manufacturing process and costs.”

Along with the significant growth and diversification that the tube laser offered, a fourth flat-sheet laser was added to meet the increasing demand.

Today 90 employees keep com-ponents and assemblies moving out the door three shifts a day, five days a week. Canadian Weld-ing Bureau-certified welders make up 30 percent of the work-

About 700 shipments leave the Champ dock each week. Photo cour-tesy of Champ Industries.

Good, experienced welders are need-ed to meet the production needs of Champ Industries. However, the com-pany knows that the experience needs to begin with good training. “Based on this principle, our welding supervi-sor and production manager has been involved with two local welding pro-grams as part of the Advisory Commit-tee to share his experience and narrow the gap between school and industry,” said Lise Baker, general manager of Champ Industries.

Red River CollegeThe Notre Dame Campus of Red River College offers a seven-month certifi-cate program open to Manitoba resi-dents. Participants learn gas tungsten and gas metal arc welding, along with mathematics, science, industrial com-munications, and blueprint reading. Upon graduation they receive a Red River College certificate and a student CWB ticket.

“We work in collaboration with

the college and provide work expe-rience for students just before they graduate. We have them here for the last two weeks of the program to provide work experience. If any of those students is interested or shows a particular skill, we’ve been known to hire them,” said Baker.

Neeginan Institute of Applied TechnologyNeeginan Institute of Applied Technol-ogy, a postsecondary training division of the Centre for Aboriginal Human Re-sources Development, is funded by the federal Aboriginal Skills and Employ-ment Training Strategy program.

Baker said, “This is an excellent pro-gram. The work center offers underpriv-iledged First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people the opportunity to learn welding at no cost. This program has been help-ful in supplying welders for the manu-facturers in our area.”www.abcentre.org/links.htmlhttp://me.rrc.mb.ca

Feeding the Need for Welders

Thirty percent of Champ employees are CWB-certi-fied welders. The company has 20 GMAW and 10 GTAW stations.

force, creating welded assem-blies for everything from small components to large frames for the transportation and agricul-tural industry.

From Glass Washers to Car Washers

Equipment for cleaning glasses transitioned to equipment for washing cars. Magikist®, a Win-nipeg distributor of car wash equipment, became a key com-ponent in the success of the company and continues the rela-tionship today. “Magikist manu-factures the majority of the car wash equipment you see in North America—the vacuum towers, the pressure washers, and the car washes that you do by hand with a wand. We provide the compo-nents,” Baker said.

These components for the Magikist units are basically pro-duced from thin-gauge stainless cut on a laser, sent to the punch for added features, formed on the brake, and sent to one of the 30 welding stations for assembly. “Cosmetics are very important. We have to make sure the final product is without any scratch-es,” said Production Manager Joseph Habtemicael, who joined

the company as a finisher after immigrating to Canada from Af-rica over 30 years ago. “We have first-off quality inspection and continue with in-process inspec-tion for all of our jobs.”

ISO 9001:2008 certification helps keep the focus on quality.

“We have approximately 3,000 active parts. We ship 642,000 parts a year, almost 700 ship-ments a week,” said Baker. The company stocks a limited num-ber of parts for a handful of cus-tomers, but most jobs are just-in-

time. Flashing signs located in the production bays praise and thank employees for achieving nearly perfect, 99.94 percent, on-time delivery.

Seventy other companies join Magikist on the Champ customer roster. Components typically go to the transportation, agriculture, aerospace, food service, and commercial manufacturing indus-tries. All come under the category of original equipment manufac-turer. Of the seemingly endless component configurations that

Electrical box assemblies require laser cutting, punching, forming, and as-sembly before final powder coating.

Capabilities of the 20-ft. TRUMPF TruLaser 7000 tube laser with automation, one of Champ’s newest equipment additions, expanded the company’s customer list.

Components for the transportation, agriculture, aerospace, food service, and commercial manufacturing industries are fabricated in Champ’s 58,000-sq.-ft., full-service shop.

FABRICATING

flow across the floor, 47 percent are produced from mild steel, 47 percent from stainless, and 6 per-cent from aluminum.

Various fuel tanks and frames are produced for the transpor-tation industry. Habtemicael explained that the fuel tanks re-quire added steps to meet certi-fications. “Once welded, each tank goes to our test area to make sure it is 100 percent leak-proof before it goes to painting. There are absolutely strict certi-fications, everything has to be to standards, and they have to last 10 years. In some tank configura-tions, the welds need to be done from the inside.”

Crossing the Border

Jamestown, N.D., became the home of Champ’s second facility andit is outfitted with equipment to provide the same production services—laser cutting, bend-ing, welding, and assembly. It started production in 2006 in a 10,000-sq.-ft. building and ex-perienced the same success and growth as the shop in Winnipeg. After only two years, customer demands necessitated expansion. A larger building in the same city met the space needs and added to overall production ca-pacity and capabilities.

“Now we have a 37,000-sq.-

ft. manufacturing facility and we were lucky enough to find a build-ing with a powder coating booth,” said Baker. “In Winnipeg we out-source that function locally.”

The Baker Touch

Bridges, who passed away in 2007, left the company in good hands. Dedicated people with core skills on the shop floor and Baker’s team approach to man-agement ensure that the compa-ny’s success will continue.

For the future, Baker sees steady growth, maintaining and building new relationships, and continuing with their ongoing commitment to new advances in technology.

“Our success is about our people,” said Baker. “It started because of David’s dream and

skill and has continued because of our people. I’m here to facili-tate and motivate, but they are the ones who do the incredible work.”b

www.champindustries.ca

Precision punching is an integral step in several components pro-duced at Champ. The image of Marilyn Monroe was created with a series of holes punched in a stain-less sheet.

Photo courtesy of Champ Industries.

Reprinted with permission from Canadian industRial MaChineRy, July 2013. Visit our website at www.cipmetalworking.com.© FMa Communications inc. all Rights Reserved. Foster Printing service: 866-879-9144, www.marketingreprints.com.

Our HistoryIn 1967, David Bridges embarked on what has evolved into a very successful career journey, by joining the employ of the Paul Moore Co., a manufacturer of hospitality equipment. Employed initially as an assembler, David quickly rose through the ranks to become the Shop Foreman.

In 1988, Champion Industries, a manufacturer of commercial dishwashers from North Carolina acquired the Paul Moore Co. to establish a U.S. presence in Canada. David accepted the position of General Manager. To address a downturn in the hospitality industry, David diversified the operation to include not only the manufacture of glass washers, but also other outside work. Magikist, a Winnipeg distributor of car wash equipment, became a valued customer, and in essence the backbone on which the company’s viability was assured at that time.

Four years later, David seized the opportunity to purchase the company, renaming it Champ Stainless. With a loyal group of employees from the Paul Moore Co., David embarked on the challenging adventure of ‘Owner.’

As the industry recognized Champ’s reputation for quality and diversification as a full-service metal fabrication and assembly facility, the customer base expanded to include many new customers. In particular, New Flyer Industries, a stalwart in the bus manufacturing industry, has been a key player in the growth and success of Champ Stainless.

By 1998 Champ had outgrown its facility on Dufferin Avenue and relocated to 360 Dawson Rd. In order to remain on the cutting edge of the industry, Champ acquired state of the art lasers, brakes, punches and a tube bender. Quality Control also became an integral part of its operation, with ISO 9001:2000 certification in 2002. A name change to Champ Industries in 2004 more accurately reflects the company’s diversification. In order to accommodate the growing U.S. content requirements of its customers, Champ Industries opened its second location in Jamestown, North Dakota, USA in 2005.

Champ Industries is a success story – and is well positioned to support the local and global economies well into the future. Every endeavor requires inspiration and our company draws on the strength and determination of Champ, a long ago, loyal canine friend of the owner. His legacy is reflected in our loyalty to employees and steadfast relationships with customers and suppliers. Trust our Experience. Benefit from our Expertise.

About UsChamp Industries is one of the largest metal fabricators in Western Canada. We offer custom fabrication at a full-service assembly facility located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We have also recently opened a second location in Jamestown, North Dakota to accommodate a growing demand in the U.S.A. Our services reflect a variety of specific customer needs, from fuel systems to brackets to large assemblies. Using state-of-the-art equipment, we offer quality workmanship, cost-efficient production, effective customer service and timely shipping to any location in North America. Champ Industries prides itself on providing its clients with solutions to meet their fabricated metal needs. Its mission is to provide great products through experience and technology and building relationships for the future. We welcome you to contact us for your metal fabrication needs. We manufacture solutions.

Winnipeg, Manitoba

http://champindustries.ca

(204) 233-0500

Jamestown, North Dakota

http://champindustries.ca

(701) 252-4630