News and Views About Companies, Staff, Products and More

On Sept. 18, 2004, Gates Canada Inc. of Brantford, Ont., celebrated its 50th anniversary and the opening of its new administrative offices with an open house and reunion. Current and retired Gates employees and their families, totalling over 600, attended the event. Guests enjoyed a tour of the new offices, a barbecued beef dinner, music, a presentation of historical photographs and memorabilia, and a display of more than 30 vintage cars.

“Fifty-year anniversaries are an important event in the life of any company, and not many companies make it this far,” says Gates Canada CFO and business unit manager Bob Luckhart.

The new 15,000 sq-ft administration building houses sales, marketing, finance, computer and human resources departments. The building is the third head office in the city for Gates Canada since 1954.

When the Gates Rubber Company of Denver, Colo., decided to go international in 1954, Brantford was chosen as the first international venture because of the large farm machinery manufacturing facilities located there. Initially, ‘Gates Rubber of Canada’ supplied agricultural belts to those manufacturers.

With the closing of hose manufacturing in the mid ’90s and belt manufacturing in 2002, it was decided that new administrative facilities were needed, and that they should be in close proximity to the remaining distribution centre.

Today, Gates Canada markets and distributes Gates automotive and industrial belts and hoses, private-label automotive lines, Stant thermostats and caps, the Trico windshield wipers, Tridon clamps, as well as Plews, Edelmann, Lubri-Matic, Camel, Airflo and Schrader-Bridgeport products.

Juan Cotrina, an employee of BDI Canada Inc., Mississauga, Ont., has successfully completed the examination to become a Certified Bearing Specialist, reports the Bearing Specialists Association (BSA). Certified Bearing Specialists are those individuals with excellent knowledge in the selection, application and analysis of bearings. They have passed a comprehensive examination which tests and rates their mastery of the critical skills and knowledge for successful execution of the role of bearing specialist. For more information on the program, contact BSA headquarters in Glen Ellyn, Ill, at 630-858-3838, or BDI Canada Inc., at 905-238-3392.

Compressor Engineering Corp. (CECO) of Houston, Tex., has promoted Joe Miniot to vice-president of sales and Gene Thompson to vice-president of engineering and manufacturing. CECO is an independent manufacturer of engine and compressor replacement parts.

ITT Flygt and Kinecor Inc., St Laurent, Que., recently signed a new partnership agreement at the ITT Flygt head office in Pointe-Claire, Que., making Kinecor the first specific distributor of ITT Flygt industrial products for Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces. Kinecor has a network of 56 branches across Canada, of which 19 are in Quebec and seven are in the Atlantic Region. Kinecor specializes in the distribution of industrial components such as bearings, power transmission equipment, hydraulic systems and process equipment. ITT Flygt is the world’s largest manufacturer of submersible pumps. The products are made in Sweden.

Iris Power Engineering of Toronto has received CE certification on all of its Trac instruments (PDTrac, HydroTrac, BusTrac), and all portable instruments including Iris’ TGA-B, TGA-S, TGA-SB, TGA-BP, TGA-SP and PDA-IV. A CE marking is a self-declaration by the manufacturer that the product conforms to all applicable directives and standards. For more information, contact Claude Silveria at 416-620-5600, ext. 273.

Ivara Corp., Burlington, Ont., a provider of asset reliability solutions, has launched a distinctive new corporate identity. The new corporate logo, new family identification for Ivara software products, and contemporary new graphic look can all be seen now on a completely redesigned website at www.ivara.com. Part of the new identity includes a stronger focus on the company’s Work Smart approach, which ensures clients successfully make the transition to proactive, reliability-based maintenance. Also, the company has renamed its enterprise asset management (EAM) software to Supream.

ITW Devcon, a manufacturer of adhesives and coatings for assembly, maintenance and repair, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary at its headquarters in Danvers, Mass. “We’ve come a long way,” said Devcon manager Sevan Demirdogen. “But we have not forgotten our heritage. The concrete block building that Al Creighton (the company founder, who was in attendance) put up on this site in the early fifties had a footprint of only 1,800 sq ft. Today we occupy 113,000 sq ft and are part of ITW, a $10-billion Fortune 200 diversified manufacturing company.”

Demirdogen recounted Creighton’s early attempts to invent an economical, non-flammable alternative to welding in the years following World War II. One of the first to experiment with epoxies, Creighton eventually perfected the formula for a two-part, steel-filled epoxy compound he named Plastic Steel. It became Devcon’s flagship product, and Creighton used the profits to develop additional products.

More than 350 Goodyear associates who work in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, were recently recognized by the company for their inventions and innovations. In addition, 32 associates were named “Inventors of the Year” for 2003 and 12 were awarded special honours in recognition of their contributions over the course of their careers with the company. Robert J. Keegan, Goodyear’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that a new business model is driving today’s technology organization. He said that one key to success is using speed and collaboration to get products to market faster.

Geko Recycling Technologies Inc. recently began construction of its Edmonton Waste Management Centre, which will be Canada’s largest metals and electronics recycling facility. The $30-million facility will process 30,000 tonnes annually of commercial, industrial and consumer electronic and electrical waste, including computers, televisions, small appliances and metal windows and doors. It will be the first venture outside of Europe for the German company.

Electromate Industrial Sales Ltd. of Woodbridge, Ont., completed its ISO 9001:2000 recertification process on June 25, 2004. The company is a stocking distributor of motion control and automation products such as servo/stepper components and systems, linear bearings, positioning stages and actuators, switch/sensor products and PLC/operator interfaces. For details, visit www.electromate.com.

Information Handling Services Inc., Englewood, Colo., a provider of content integration and decision support tools, technical standards, codes and product specifications, parts management and logistics solutions, has acquired Intermat Inc., Houston, Tex., a provider of parts optimization software tools and services. Intermat products include MRO-Master. For details, visit www.intermat.com or www.ihs.com.

Carlo Gavazzi Canada has appointed the following account managers: Kevin Dowse for Western Quebec and the Maritimes; Jean Demers for western Montreal, Hull and the Ottawa region; and Dave Taub for Western Ontario, as well as Burlington to Niagara and Northern Ontario.