March 2012.
Napanee hotdog cart supplier taking over the world
Will Hodgskiss isn’t afraid to talk about global domination.
The owner of Napanee-based hotdog cart maker and distributor Willy Dog—already North America’s largest hotdog cart supplier—is on the verge of bringing his products en mass to the rest of the world.
“If we can be this successful here just through aggressive and responsive marketing, imagine what we could do with an office in Miami where there’s a bigger population living within a 100-mile radius than we have in our whole country,” says Hodgskiss.
Indeed, Hodgskiss already ships 20 different types of hotdog carts made in his Napanee factory all over the world. He also has an office in Indiana and—as of this article’s writing—was about to open a new operation in the international port city of Miami, Florida, where he expects to reach out big-time to Latin American and European markets.
“We will increase our sales by half and as much again nearly overnight with the new Miami office,” he says.
Hodgskiss’ remarkable story is one of riches to rags and back to riches again.
A real estate millionaire at the age of 30, he lost everything in the 1980s to dubious investments and a housing market crash.
In 1989, Hodgskiss bought a $6,800 hotdog cart, learned the nuances of selling street food, and started to build Willy Dog into a global hotdog franchise chain and hotdog cart supplier.
He sold hundreds of Willy Dog franchises internationally but found that many franchisees didn’t want to run their operations the Willy Dog way, so he began aggressively marketing his cart supplier business.
The business grew and in September 2010, Willy Dog moved to a 32,000sq.ft. former furniture factory in Napanee that Hodgskiss has converted to commercial rental units and office, factory, and warehousing space.
Hodgskiss now employs 20 people and expects to hire four more people in Napanee once the Miami office is up to full speed.
“Willy Dog is a manufacturing good news story and Lennox and Addington is proud to be their home,” says Stephen Paul, the county’s Manager of Economic Development. “Our community provides them with the skilled labour, business support and low cost structure to help them be a North American leader.”
Chalk River Laboratories provide northeast Ontario research powerhouse
Tucked into a small pocket of northeast Ontario is one of Canada’s most complex laboratories where more than 200 professors, students, and industrial researchers go each year to investigate sciences as diverse as the nuclear industry to metallurgy.
Home to farmers and lumberjacks in the 1800s, the village of Chalk River has been the residence of Chalk River Laboratories, owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, for more than 60 years. Researchers there use the reactors and the labs there to analyze structural materials such as ceramics, polymers, metals, and alloys.
John Walden, an economic development consultant in Deep River, says Chalk River Labs is a massive local employer.
“Chalk River Labs is a major scientific hub that employs 2,700 talented people,” says Walden.
The future of the 3,700-hectare facility and the people it employs were called into question after a reactor was shut down in 2009 following a leak in the National Research Universal Reactor.
In October 2011, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced it would renew AECL’s Chalk River Labs operating licence for five years until Oct. 31, 2016.
“The Commission is satisfied that the licensee … will make adequate provision for the protection of the environment, the health and safety of persons, and the maintenance of national security and measures,” the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said in a release on its website.
The Chalk River Labs were opened in 1944 under the purview of the National Research Council and in 1945 became the first nuclear reactor to become operational outside the U.S.
The federal government created AECL in 1952 to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. It took over the operation of Chalk River from the National Research Council.
Canada’s first nuclear power plant, a CANDU design, went online at Chalk River Labs in 1962. It was a partnership between AECL and the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Canada.
Radiation detection specialist firm nestles down in Ontario East
Chalk River is well known in Eastern Ontario as the birthplace of hockey great Howie Meeker and as the home of nuclear research company Atomic Energy Centre Ltd., but it is also home to another no-less-remarkable entity.
The northeastern Ontario village of roughly 1,000 people hosts Bubble Technology Industries (BTI), an expanding homegrown company that specializes in radiation detection.
Launched in April 1988 by AECL research scientist Harry Ing, the company (www.bubbletech.com) has grown from a staff of seven to about 50 and now has clients all over the world, says Lianne Ing, vice president of business development.
“The company has over 400 customers in 25 countries—we currently provide advanced radiation detection and explosives detection products to many NATO-country governments, law enforcement entities, research institutes, hospitals, and space agencies,” she says.
BTI began as a startup that spun out of AECL.
In the 1980s, Harry Ing was looking for more effective ways to measure radiation dose from potentially harzardous radiation particles called neutrons. He developed a device called the bubble detector, which used bubbles trapped inside a gel to take a quantitative measurement of neutron radiation exposure.
The company has grown steadily over the last two decades and now offers a wide range of radiation and explosives detection technologies to clients. It also performs cutting-edge contract research with its team of scientists, engineers, and support staff.
BTI is involved in several anti-terrorism programs, including ones with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Canadian CBRN Research and Technology Initiative, which funds science projects that strengthen Canada’s readiness for terrorist attacks.
John Walden, an economic development consultant in Deep River, says the community is proud to be the home of BTI, a company that is highly respected by the Canadian Department of Defence, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NATO and NASA.
“BTI has to be one of the most creative and innovative companies in the world,” Walden says. “When customers want to do something that has never been before, they come to BTI.”
Thomson Fasteners maintains proud tradition of excellence for six decades
If you live in the Town of Gananoque, you know Thomson Fasteners.
An anchor in the Eastern Ontario community for more than 60 years, Thomson Fasteners (www.thomsonfasteners.com) was founded in 1949 and continues to evolve on its original site in Gananoque.
“Thomson Fasteners started and remains a locally owned and operated business with over 60 years of manufacturing excellence,” says Shelley Hirstwood, Economic Development Manager for the Corporation of the Town of Gananoque.
Hirstwood says the name Thomson Fasteners is one name in the community that everybody knows for its tradition of excellence and its long history in the town.
“Thomson Fasteners is an anchor in the Town of Gananoque supporting the local community and region,” she says.
Operating out of a 62,000sq.ft. manufacturing facility, Thomson Fasteners produces a wide range of fasteners for industry, including custom-made products. The company provides finishing, heat treatment, and thread-seal applications, all to automotive specifications.
Thomson Fasteners attributes much of its success to its skilled and stable work force. The company continually invests in the training of its employees and is proud of employees’ partnership in Thomson Fasteners’ success.
“We are committed to deliver a high-quality product at a reasonable price, and to deliver on time, every time,” says the company’s website.
To ensure quality, Thomson Fasteners uses a full complement of mechanical, optical, electronic, and visual inspection systems onsite. If customers ask for it, they can get 100 percent inspection to verify each individual part.
All products are packed to the specifications of Thomson Fasteners’ customers using environmentally safe materials that protect products during storage and shipping.
Gananoque reel maker evolves to stand the test of time
The folks at Gananoque’s GanReel Manufacturing know all about flexibility and adapting to market trends and needs.
The 50-year-old company has evolved from a popular wooden leisure craft builder into a growing manufacturer of wooden reels that’s now twice the size of the original business.
“We still take the same kind of pride in the quality of our wooden reels that we did 50 years ago when we were manufacturing boats,” says Operations Manager Jeff Conner.
Launched as Cliffe Craft by Jeff Conner’s father Tom Conner and his now-retired friend Charlie Cliffe, the company built 16- to 28-foot boats until the early 1980s, when fiberglass boats started taking over the market.
Cliffe Craft continued to repair wooden boats and ran a marina until the mid-1990s when the business shifted to wooden reel manufacturing. The company later changed its name to GanReel Manufacturing.
“We had the experience of working with wood and the transition of building boats to making wooden cable reels was a relatively simple one for us in terms of skills and ability,” Jeff Conner says.
In the mid-1990s, the company employed eight people. It now has 15 employees and more hires were planned as of this profile’s writing in January 2012.
GanReel also moved to new quarters about two times the size of the old building and now does more than make wooden reels. It also manufactures pallets and custom wooden packaging, it recycles wooden reels, and it repairs steel reels in a fully equipped machine and welding shop.
Shelley Hirstwood, Gananoque’s Economic Development Manager, says GanReel is well known in the town for its attention to quality and incredible customer service.
“Many people in Gananoque have followed this manufacturer’s story,” Hirstwood says. “We’re proud of this company and we’re excited to see it continue to grow.”
Peterborough mat board maker becomes global market player
For more than a century the name “Peterboro” has been famous within the Eastern Ontario art and picture framing industry. Now the name has gone global.
Bought out in 2001 by former framer Alan Yaffe and a business partner, Peterborough’s Peterboro Cardboards has since becoming an international producer of mat boards. Indeed, today, Peterboro’s mat boards can be found throughout the world and the company is now growing to meet that international demand.
In December 2011, the company finalized the purchase of a new factory that was once owned by Unilever to make Ragu spaghetti sauces and Knorr soups. The new building was to be ready for production by the spring of 2012.
Yaffe, who is company president, says in a release on the corporate website (www.peterboromatboards.com) that the move was needed to respond to increasing demand from framers around the world.
“With the significant growth in our U.S. and international distribution networks, we needed to increase our production capacity and finished goods warehouse space,” he says.
A pioneer in the art and framing industry since 1902, Peterboro is one of only a handful of mat board manufacturers worldwide that make a full range of mat board products.
Before Yaffe and his business partner bought it, Peterboro Cardboards was owned and operated by three generations of the Westbye family. For decades, it was a top supplier of mat boards to the Canadian market. It may be of interest that Yaffe’s partner is a member of the original Westbye family.
Renato Romanin, Director of Business Development at the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp., says Peterborough Cardboards is an exciting success story.
“Long-time local business observers watched this company thrive for decades only to almost succumb to heavy new competition in the 1970s,” Romanin says. “To witness this company going global, like a phoenix rising from ashes, is exhilarating.”
Lakefield is proud home to country’s largest firearms manufacturer
Lakefield in Eastern Ontario is known for its proximity to pristine countryside and beautiful lakes and cottages, but it is also famous for one other feature: the village is home to Canada’s largest firearms manufacturer.
Savage Arms Canada employs about 100 people at its Lakefield factory who are expected to make and distribute upwards of 185,000 rim-fire rifles around the world in 2012.
“We’re seeing expansion in demand,” says Terry McCullough, vice president and general manager of Savage Arms Canada.
Utica, New York-based Savage Arms (www.savagearms.com) bought Lakefield Arms in 1995 so that it would produce all of the company’s .22-calibre rim-fire rifles. At the time, the factory produced about 29,000 rim-fire rifles annually with 50 employees.
Most of its rim-fire rifles—rifles that fire their bullets by striking the rim of a bullet’s cartridge as opposed to the centre—are sold in the U.S., but some are sold in Canada and a few are sold elsewhere in the world. Lakefield Arms had been in business since 1965 making inexpensive and reliable .22-calibre rim-fire rifles.
The .17- and .22-calibre rifles that Savage Arms makes at the Lakefield plant are popular for target practice as they are well known for their accuracy. The small caliber size means the rifles don’t kick much when fired.
Savage Arms was formed in1894 by Arthur Savage of Utica, New York. The company sold affordable rifles. By 1920, Savage Arms was making high-power rifles, .22-calibre rifles, pistols, and ammunition. The company grew during the two World Wars and contributed millions of firearms to both campaigns.
Renato Romanin, Director of Business Development at the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp., says Savage Arms is a key local employer.
“Savage Arms is a big employer in our community and we’re proud to have such a world-class manufacturer in our region,” says Romanin.
Peterborough heavy equipment maker exceeds all growth expectations
It seems there are no limits to the lofty heights a Peterborough heavy equipment maker can reach these days.
McCloskey International has rapidly expanded since moving production of its heavy equipment from Northern Ireland to Eastern Ontario in 2010 as part of a multimillion-dollar expansion plan.
In February 2010, the Ontario Government announced that McCloskey would spend more than $4.3 million to renovate its Peterborough facility, a move that would create 50 new jobs over the following five years. The province chipped in $654,000 through the Eastern Ontario Development Fund.
Then in late 2011, McCloskey revealed it planned to almost double its workforce to 400 employees over the next three years as part of a $9.7-million expansion aided by a $750,000 grant from the Ontario Government.
The expansion was to include the purchase of new equipment and enable the development of a new product.
McCloskey International makes industrial screening and rock-crushing machines for the global mining and landscaping sectors.
Renato Romanin, Director of Business Development at the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp., says McCloskey International is one of the most exciting companies to watch in the region.
“McCloskey International has surpassed all expectations since moving its heavy equipment operation here,” Romanin says. “The company is playing a very large role in creating jobs here—and making Peterborough a better place to live and work.”
Indeed, when McCloskey applied for its Eastern Ontario Development Fund grant it expected to create 50 jobs over four years. Instead it created 80 jobs over two years.
McCloskey was warmly welcomed when it initially arrived in the Peterborough area in 1998. It moved onto abandoned land that had been vacant for years.
Peterborough area enters green energy production sector with ethanol plant
Peterborough County’s Kawartha Ethanol has put the region onto Ontario’s energy production map while creating dozens of jobs for local creative workers.
Launched in 2011, Kawartha Ethanol (kawarthaethanol.ca) produces 80 million litres of ethanol annually and provides quality jobs for college and university graduates.
Renato Romanin, Director of Business Development at the Greater Peterborough Area Economic Development Corp., says Kawartha Ethanol is a great example of the types of creative economy businesses that are choosing to invest in the area.
“Kawartha Ethanol will not only create superb supply opportunities for local agri-businesses, it will build the region’s reputation as a green-energy production centre and a vibrant, multifaceted creative economy,” Romanin says.
The $47-million ethanol production facility in Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township uses about eight million bushels of corn grown by local farmers to make the 80 million litres of ethanol it produces each year.
The facility was built on the site of the former 3M mine and is the product of almost a decade of efforts by the agriculture community and local politicians to set up an ethanol operation to provide a much-needed market for farmers.
The federal government helped launch development of the plan for the plant in 2007 by providing $170,000. Kawartha Ethanol also received $4.9 million from the Ontario Government, which came from the province’s $520-million Ethanol Growth Fund.
A total of 150 jobs were created during construction and about 27 people currently work there, including lab technicians and engineers.
Kawartha Ethanol processes corn bought from local farmers through a Kawartha Lakes grain dealer. The corn is made into ethanol, which is a bio-fuel that is added to gasoline to burn fuel cleaner.
Currently, the gasoline in Canada’s motor vehicle must contain at least two percent ethanol so there’s no shortage of demand for the green energy made at Kawartha Ethanol.
February 2012.
North Grenville firm develops, sells unique clean-energy combustion system
When Glen Clarke won a motorsport race in 2006 using an experimental ignition system designed by combustion expert Dr. Alex Plotnikov, he suspected the technology could have huge global appeal.
"The engine was very crisp and there was a little more power- it made a big difference," says Clarke, remembering his win at the five-day 2006 Targa Newfoundland International tarmac rally.
The following year, Clarke and his engineering students at Carleton University installed the plasma-based system in a racecar they built and they beat out 150 other universities for the fuel efficiency of their vehicle.
A clean-energy combustion technology, the SPDI Spark system has reduced fuel usage in automobiles by five to 10 percent.
Six years after the Newfoundland motorcar rally, Clarke and Plotnikov have fully tested their SPDI Spark ignition system and have just started selling their first products out of their Kemptville, Ontario facility under their company name Sphenic Technologies. They’ve also hired six people.
Sphenic Technologies is now selling the systems through the company’s website (www.spdispark.com) and a salesperson has since been hired to develop a distribution network.
Initially, Sphenic Technologies is targeting North America’s $100-million aftermarket parts market, the subset of automobile enthusiasts who enjoy tinkering with, and adding onto, their own cars.
The company’s long-term goal is to target the original equipment maker market in hopes of getting SPDI Spark systems installed in new automobiles when they are assembled at the factory.
Teri Devine, Economic Development Coordinator for the Municipality of North Grenville, says Sphenic Technologies impressed the folks at the Grenville Community Futures Development Corp. so much that the organization provided funding to help the company hire two new sales and marketing employees.
“Sphenic Technologies is an exciting new startup in North Grenville that has the potential to really go global,” Devine says. “This is one company we all have our eyes on.”
Feds open $18.9-million fund for Southern Ontario manufacturers
The federal government has renewed a funding initiative that helps Southern Ontario manufacturers improve competitiveness and gain new access to global business opportunities.
Ian Howcroft, vice president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Ontario, said in an online announcement that FedDev Ontario is giving $18.9 million to the CME SMART Prosperity Now initiative.
The funding creates a new phase for the SMART program, which was launched in 2008.
Manufacturers that are currently exporting, planning to export, or selling into an export supply chain, are eligible to apply for funding to conduct productivity assessments and to undertake a variety of productivity improvement projects.
Productivity assessments will be eligible for funding for up to 50 per cent of costs to a maximum contribution of $5,000. Productivity enhancement projects, meanwhile, may qualify for funding for up to 33 per cent of costs to a maximum contribution of $75,000.
To help navigate the program, CME is organizing a series of informative workshops that are scheduled to begin in early February, including one in Kingston, Ontario on Feb. 15.
The new phase of the program was formally announced on January 10 in the Niagara region by The Honorable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and Jayson Myers, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.
More details can be found at www.cme-smart.ca or by calling the CME hotline at 1-877-913-4263.