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 Greetings!
Welcome to the winter edition of our newsletter. And until today, the weather sure has been winter! This edition includes some company history, as well as achievements we've made since the fall edition. It's been a very busy summer and fall here as we prepare for continued growth and improved excellence!
METALEX was started by Clay and I at the turn of the century (that sounds funny, doesn't it?) as a small business addressing a need for high-quality, value-priced building solutions, with premium service for our clients. Starting out with only self-framer offerings, soon led to requests for foam panel solutions, which we soon equipped our shops to design and fabricate. There can be a substantial amount of technology involved in designing and fabricating metal buildings, and we found ourselves filling two small shops, and looking for a third. This led us to our current facility in Stettler, with the two other shops still operating. Despite logistical issues, it has served us well, but the recent completion of our facility expansion has allowed us to consolidate our operations and make better use of our resources. We have cross-trained staff in both disciplines and have improved our ability to handle more work, larger projects, and diversify some of the solutions we offer clients. We have announced our entry into the larger and more complex Steel Structures market as clients invite us to provide the same level of quality, value and service which they have become accustomed to with our traditional offerings. What started out as a family pursuit has shown us that if you do something well, growth is inevitable! And we plan on doing things well for many years to come!  And speaking of growth, the mugshot at left is our latest addition - Josh Storey - Production Supervisor. Josh comes to us with extensive experience in production management, lean practices and shop supervision. Josh will be the point man for coordinating all production activities, on-site and off-site, and will work closely with management to ensure growth is managed. Josh is also anxious to get to know all of our customers and wants to hear any concerns firsthand! Josh has recently located to the region and enjoys horse-ranching with his wife and children. Join us in welcoming Josh to the team, and help us make sure he is always challenged!
Feel free to give us feedback anytime! And not just on our newsletter, but our products and service too! Send your comments in total confidence right to the top - Lorisa@mmbi.ca or Clay@mmbi.ca.
Please visit
our updated website and meet some of our staff, view some of our products and let us know what you think.
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Thinking On Your Feet
"Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity"
- Author Unknown
They say you can't teach common sense... and many have tried. They also say if you make something fool-proof, they will develop a better brand of fool. Common sense does seem to be a rare commodity these days, and our forefathers would probably roll in their graves seeing that we have decided we need to put "Caution - Hot" on a cup of coffee. Or that a chain-saw has a warning to not grab the blade while it is running. Safety, innovation and service all require a degree of training, but depend heavily upon common sense. Gut instinct plays a big part in telling us what makes sense, but sometimes you need to share common sense with others. Not everyone has the same amount, and we all have off-days, where someone else can come to our rescue if we overlook what might seem obvious to others.
At METALEX, we have developed many processes to assist us in our day-to-day operation. But you can't operate by rules, checklists and process flow-charts alone. People still need to have the presence of mind to improve something, identify risk, or make something easier. Our teams seem to relish providing input and need to be challenged regularly. Being on a job site with any number of inevitable problems - limited daylight, and extra materials hours away makes for challenges that go beyond simple common sense. It requires true "thinking on your feet". Rural living may also add value to our operation as things aren't always simple in the country. And innovative thinking seems to be infectious. Many of our staff are always looking at things with an intent to improve them. Our daily project meetings identify many areas where staff input has added value, and we commend them for any suggestion they offer. Only they know the inner workings of their world well enough to critique and improve. Kudos to them for their commitment to work smarter - not harder!
And it doesn't stop with our staff,as we are always happy to listen to customers, colleagues or vendors that can share common sense to help us continue to improve!
Q. HOW CAN YOU HELP US HELP YOU? A. CHALLENGE US. QUESTION US. CRITIQUE US. While we wish our products were always the absolute best in the world, we know better. Any little thing you think might make us a more valuable solution provider is welcomed. While some of us have days where we are all-thumbs, actually, we're all ears!
METALEX Metal Buildings is anxious to hear from you. Call us to experience service and project execution evolved from years of fine-tuning. Or let us know what we could be doing better. Consider us for your next bid request for any Metal or Steel structure requirements, and put our common sense to the test!
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Movers & Shakers
Who are they?
THE TERM "Movers & Shakers" normally denotes someone who has the ability and passion to make things happen. It could refer to an individual, or to a company, or to an entire industry.
I'D BE KIDDING YOU if I told you we were capable of making wholesale changes in our industry, but we sure believe we play our part!
MOST PEOPLE believe that in Western Canada, most of the Movers & Shakers are headquartered in the downtown core of the large cities. The fact is, change most often comes from the ground up. Every business relies on the consumer to purchase their products or services, and if the consumer voices the need for change, the Movers & Shakers are the first to respond. It still always boils down to Supply and Demand.
SURE, THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. The companies that invent something radical and have the resources to make massive change in how their industry operates, but those are few and far between. I'm talking about the companies that are willing to re-invent themselves to thrive and grow, even in the face of a down-turned economy. The companies that continue to improve and take advantage of slow periods to prepare for the inevitable rebound. The companies that are willing to take risk balanced with sensible business practices and keep amazing their customers.
AND THAT IS WHAT METALEX continues to do. Sure, we feel the slowdown, but we also know that our customers still need exemplary products and service, and that when things turn around the first one prepared to be better, will be most in demand. We have worked hard to get better, developed more products, more options, bigger capabilities, and more efficient processes to serve our customers.
TRUST US to treat your every request with the utmost importance, and rest assured that no other building solution provider tries harder than METALEX to execute your project on time, despite any issues that arise. We know that doing it right the first time is its own reward, and helps to save our customers money, headaches and keeps you coming back!
TRY US, YOU'LL LIKE US!
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Western Canada Drilling Stats
If you draw any relation between your business, the economy, and the amount of drilling activity in Canada, the drilling statistics below might interest you. Below, you will find the latest week this year compared to last year.  Comparing a single week, year to year (2008 to 2009), Alberta is back up to 90% of last years activity. BC is about 60% of this time last year, while Saskatchewan has increased over 35%! Manitoba is down 65%. All together we have about 90% rig activity compared to this week last year. This is up almost 100% since our fall newsletter (early September) and the trend seems to be continuing.
All in all, things are almost as busy as this time last year in Western Canada, and the recent cold snap has been gobbling up natural gas and helping bring reserves back to acceptable levels.
(Drilling rig activity statistics courtesy of CAODC and Divestco) |
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Absolutely Trivialicious
WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's how
many tries it took Norm Larsen, a chemist, to concoct a formula that
would prevent corrosion by displacing water.
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| CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL -
"The people from Metalex are always very easy to deal with; their
flexibility to adapt to our scheduling changes and updates is most appreciated.
The quality of buildings they erect for us is very good with minimal issues
during construction. The price that we pay for this quality is very competitive
with the competition."
David Glasgow
Purchasing Manager
Bilton
Welding and Manufacturing LTD
Innisfail AB
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Building buildings is what we do best. And we have finally completed our expansion and consolidation of operations.
PICTURED ABOVE - the original shop earlier this summer. Plans include north side and south side additions, to more than double our existing production square footage.
PICTURED ABOVE - with the weather working in our favor most of the time, construction progressed according to plans. Virtually all construction labor provided by METALEX.
PICTURED ABOVE - taken at a similar angle to the top picture, you can see the sizable addition on both the north and south sides. All equipment has been moved in, is up and running, and life is good!
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Come see us!
(and don't forget to bring donuts!) METALEX Metal Buildings Inc.
Box 1058 4204 - 46th Avenue Stettler, AB T0C 2L0 Phone: 403.742.1300 Toll Free: 866.913.1300 Fax: 403.742.1308 info@mmbi.ca |
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