Post by Max on Oct 19, 2007 23:32:49 GMT -3
Date Published | Oct. 18, 2007
TIMMINS—Northern business and community leaders celebrated excellence in business last night at the 21st Annual Northern Ontario Business Awards gala event at the Day’s Inn.
Sudbury entrepreneur Peter Dal Bianco, owner of Bianco’s Audiotronic, was named Entrepreneur of the Year.
FNX Mining Company Inc., of Sudbury was awarded Company of the Year (51 employees or more) category.
Rezplast Manufacturing Ltd. another local company, won the Innovation Award.
Dr. David Morris, a Sudbury dentist who partnered with geologist Jamie Cecchetto earlier this to launch Morris Diamond Drilling, was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Lockerby Composite School graduate Regan Christine Thompson was the Union Gas Student Essay Scholarship. Currently she is a student at Carleton University.
Peter Dal Bianco is celebrating 32 years in business.
Having gone toe-to-toe with retail Goliaths, Bianco has not only survived, but thrived in the electronics and video markets.
Business at his self-titled Bianco’s Audiotronic has doubled following the introduction of big box stores. With his chain of Bianco’s Movie Super Centres, he’s also successfully squared off against the likes of Blockbuster Video. With six video outlets in the Greater Sudbury area, Bianco’s has become one of the oldest video operators in Canada.
He attributes much of the company’s longevity to the positive work environment and the tight-knit closeness of the 65 full and part-time employees, many of which have been around since the mid-1980s.
After recognizing how the larger operators change the playing field for smaller, independent companies, he sought to emulate them while still retaining the kind of uniqueness necessary for an independent company. Among other things, he restructured some of the company’s practices to allow for lower prices and thus lower profit margins – a risky move, but a necessary one.
“If we don’t do that, we’re not going to be able to compete against them,” Dal Bianco said.
“No matter how much people like you, if you’re offering a television and it’s $100 more expensive than down the road, they’ll say, ‘Peter, you’re a nice guy, but guess what, I’ll save money and go down the road.’ You can’t have that, so you have to rework your business so that you can remain pretty competitive.”
Dal Bianco’s family immigrated from Italy to Sudbury in 1952, when he was just six. After studying at Northern College’s Kirkland Lake campus, he became a hydrographic surveyor in Ottawa. The work all too often pulled him away from his young family, leading Dal Bianco to instead cultivate his entrepreneurial spirit. In 1975, he pounced on the opportunity to open a Kelly’s Video Mart franchise in Sudbury, and leveraged his charisma to convince the owners of the City Centre to extend store space onto the sidewalk.
After four successful years, he re-established the business under his own name, and soon opened stores in Elliot Lake, North Bay and Montreal.
Following a chance meeting with the international founder of National Video, he became the president of National Video Canada. By 1985, he had moved to Toronto as a member of the company’s board of directors, overseeing more than 650 franchises across North America. Within three years, however, he noted his own businesses were facing some challenges, and by 1988, he sold all the non-Sudbury locations and moved back home to focus on his company and his family.
FNX Mining Company has defied the odds, rising from a small junior to an ever-expanding producer capable of challenging historical players like CVRD Inco and Xstrata Nickel.
In fact, from 2002 through 2006, FNX has been the single largest explorer in the Sudbury area, having spent $100 million. By the end of 2007, the company will have drilled a whopping two million feet of core, totaling nearly 400 miles, or the distance between Toronto and Timmins.
This aggressive exploration has allowed FNX to maintain an impressive level of constant growth as it has consistently made new and significant discoveries in the shadows of former producing properties. As a result, it has managed to replace all reserves mined from 2004 through 2006, and things are on track to do the same in 2007.
What’s more, production has regularly increased by up to 50 percent year to year, with estimates indicating a possible million tons between its two active properties by the end of 2007. That number is expected to grow to nearly 1.8 million by 2010 as FNX brings additional properties into production.
“We’re the new kids on the block,” Terry MacGibbon, executive chair of FNX, said. “We work hard, we keep our heads down, and if the ducks and the stars all line up, we hope we do well.”
In 2006 alone, FNX generated $169.9 million in revenue and net earnings of $68.7 million, just three short years after shipping its first ton of ore.
New ideas, a change of focus, and willingness to take risks have propelled Sudbury-based Rezplast Manufacturing into new product developments now recognized in the realm of national and international markets.
Since 2004, the quickly-expanding company has made its mark throughout the global mining sector with their newly-designed portable Mining Toilet and Polar Climate safety shower. These novel products led to the awarding of the 2007 Northern Ontario Business Innovation Award.
Specializing in the design, manufacturing and supply of corrosion resistant fibreglass reinforced plastic, and thermoplastic for industrial and commercial applications, this small family-oriented business acted upon requests from local mine sites to address high maintenance costs for underground human waste removal.
Keeping in mind principle owner Paul Villgren’s philosophy “give the best product possible,” Rezplast stepped up to the plate. With an open and creative mindset, they designed a mini-sewage treatment plant within a self-contained, self-operated unit that has resulted in significant cost reductions for the mines.
“We took the Greater City of Sudbury’s waste water treatment plant’s entire process and scaled it down to a portable unit, patented our ideas and philosophies behind it, and put the product to work,” said part owner and general manager Sandro Spadafora.
This new model has the capacity to store daily waste from use of up to 40 people per day, for as long as two years. It is all air operated with no moving parts. The unit works like a septic system with no smell, rot or corrosion due to its fibreglass composition.
“The air keeps the bacteria-base alive, which basically destroys all matter,” Spadafora said. Its mobility allows the entire unit to be taken up to the surface to be emptied in a controlled setting. Consequently, it has eliminated weekly maintenance and environmental disposal fees, cross-contamination, and the manpower necessary for decontamination. It is a clean, safe alternative resulting in more than $80,000 of reported savings.
The Polar Climate safety shower, enclosed and insulated for sub-zero temperatures, provides an automated safety system in a climate-controlled atmosphere to prevent hypothermia. Designed for use in surface safety stations and required by law, the custom-built Polar Climate safety shower is targeted for colder climates. It can be found in places like Alaska, Thompson, Manitoba, Northern Ontario and Quebec.
Rezplast’s product development came about when Spadafora and Krista Villgren both stepped into ownership in 2003. They examined the company’s potential and where they could take it to “get ourselves on the map.”
Within a year, they developed the Mining Toilet and Polar Climate safety shower, and took their products to the Las Vegas Mining Show, placing them on the map in the international mining circles.
“Here we were, a little fibreglass company out of Sudbury, with a dream that maybe we could do something,” said Spadafora.
Since that show, they have attended at least 30 mining shows with their products, kick-starting export sales, which have soared to approximately 65 per cent.
Although the mobile toilet was originally designed for the mining environment, Spadafora sees endless possibilities for the unit. The American and Canadian military DART (Disaster Assistance Relief Team) have purchased several units.
“We are in the process of designing a fully enclosed unit they can use for major disasters.” They expect to launch this prototype at the 2008 Las Vegas mining show. Presently, they are also developing a “first of its kind safety shower system,” to be released by the fall of this year. “It’s a completely different system and will make everyone’s lives easier on the mine sites,” said Spadafora.
Increased demand also led to their new Notre Dame location. This 21,000-square-foot facility has allowed greater space for the expansion of the fibreglass and plastics divisions in export sales, in addition to the manufacturing, sales, installation and repair of plastic and fibreglass pipes and piping systems. The latter being the mainstay of the business, Rezplast maintains about 50 percent of their sales in this area.
Aligning with Sling-Choker Manufacturing, also owned by Villgren, Rezplast has broadened their sales and distribution network from about three sales people to approximately 50 which has solidified connections in the mining industries.
Dr. David Morris, 32, freely admits diving into mineral exploration business was a bit outside his comfort zone.
But his diamond drilling company is fast proving to be yet another success venture launched by the energetic Nickel City native.
He has two flourishing dental practices and has branched out his interests to serve the north’s industrial sector while doing his part to help revitalize Sudbury’s downtown core.
“No question, I was definitely entering unknown territory.”
It’s the newest venture in his stable of four companies that include a portable industrial trailer company, a trucking firm and a downtown Sudbury nightclub.
Experienced drillers and equipment are in short supply, so when they secured a contract this year from Canadian Arrow Mines to drill the first 5,000 metres of a highly prospective nickel deposit, it was critically important to make a good first impression.
“The big risk is they’re always looking for people, but if you (screw up), you’re done.”
The $800,000 investment they’ve made in their drilling company has generated enough work to keep their 10 employees and two drill rigs busy into next year with contracts worth more than $3 million.
As a self-admitted number-cruncher, calculated risks come with the territory for Morris.
In seven years, the Morris Group of Companies employ 40 full- and part-time employees and expects to generate more than $6.2 million in revenue for 2007.
But he places more value on improving people’s lives.
“I believe in the north, I believe in the community and now with the workers we have, it makes for a good team.”
Getting into the modular trailer business made perfect sense to Morris, even if the eyes of the bankers initially clouded over.
“They didn’t believe in it. They thought it was a silly idea.”
After striking up a conversation one day with his squash partner, Keith Denis, to talk about his work servicing and installing trailers for companies across the north, Morris was intrigued.
With an initial investment of $90,000 to purchase seven rental trailers, Morris Modular Space Inc. was established in May 2004.
Three years later, their fleet has grown to more than 150, catering to mineral exploration and industrial clients, and generating more than $1 million in annual revenues.
Born and raised in Sudbury as the oldest of four children, Morris followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the dental profession, graduating from University of Toronto Dental School in 2000.
It might have been easier to set up a cozy and quiet practice in Sudbury. He could have stayed in southern Ontario to satiate his entrepreneurial ambitions where bank financing is easier to obtain.
“I’ve always been a bit of a risk-taker,” said Morris. “I like the challenge.” And he wasn’t willing to relinquish fishing and water skiing at the family cottage.
He returned north to establish a practice east of Sudbury in Warren-St. Charles before opening a second office in Lively. “It’s been a very rewarding thing personally,” said Morris of his thriving Warren practice. “I make less money, but I enjoy it for the change of pace and we provide a good service.”
Many rural folk, some on social assistance, were in need of treatment there. “The people are very appreciative of it and for me, it keeps me really checked in reality."
He’s also done his part to spruce up Sudbury’s downtown with an upscale night club.
Realizing there was no eclectic gathering place for young professionals flush with new money, Morris and another partner, MacGill Monteleone, opened S.R.O. Lounge (Standing Room Only) in October 2006 in the former Eaton’s building on Durham St.
The Northern Ontario Business Awards, under the auspices of Northern Ontario Business, have honoured 170 winners in 21 years. The first awards dinner was held in Thunder Bay.
Northern Ontario Business and Northern Life are both published by Laurentian Publishing
TIMMINS—Northern business and community leaders celebrated excellence in business last night at the 21st Annual Northern Ontario Business Awards gala event at the Day’s Inn.
Sudbury entrepreneur Peter Dal Bianco, owner of Bianco’s Audiotronic, was named Entrepreneur of the Year.
FNX Mining Company Inc., of Sudbury was awarded Company of the Year (51 employees or more) category.
Rezplast Manufacturing Ltd. another local company, won the Innovation Award.
Dr. David Morris, a Sudbury dentist who partnered with geologist Jamie Cecchetto earlier this to launch Morris Diamond Drilling, was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Lockerby Composite School graduate Regan Christine Thompson was the Union Gas Student Essay Scholarship. Currently she is a student at Carleton University.
Peter Dal Bianco is celebrating 32 years in business.
Having gone toe-to-toe with retail Goliaths, Bianco has not only survived, but thrived in the electronics and video markets.
Business at his self-titled Bianco’s Audiotronic has doubled following the introduction of big box stores. With his chain of Bianco’s Movie Super Centres, he’s also successfully squared off against the likes of Blockbuster Video. With six video outlets in the Greater Sudbury area, Bianco’s has become one of the oldest video operators in Canada.
He attributes much of the company’s longevity to the positive work environment and the tight-knit closeness of the 65 full and part-time employees, many of which have been around since the mid-1980s.
After recognizing how the larger operators change the playing field for smaller, independent companies, he sought to emulate them while still retaining the kind of uniqueness necessary for an independent company. Among other things, he restructured some of the company’s practices to allow for lower prices and thus lower profit margins – a risky move, but a necessary one.
“If we don’t do that, we’re not going to be able to compete against them,” Dal Bianco said.
“No matter how much people like you, if you’re offering a television and it’s $100 more expensive than down the road, they’ll say, ‘Peter, you’re a nice guy, but guess what, I’ll save money and go down the road.’ You can’t have that, so you have to rework your business so that you can remain pretty competitive.”
Dal Bianco’s family immigrated from Italy to Sudbury in 1952, when he was just six. After studying at Northern College’s Kirkland Lake campus, he became a hydrographic surveyor in Ottawa. The work all too often pulled him away from his young family, leading Dal Bianco to instead cultivate his entrepreneurial spirit. In 1975, he pounced on the opportunity to open a Kelly’s Video Mart franchise in Sudbury, and leveraged his charisma to convince the owners of the City Centre to extend store space onto the sidewalk.
After four successful years, he re-established the business under his own name, and soon opened stores in Elliot Lake, North Bay and Montreal.
Following a chance meeting with the international founder of National Video, he became the president of National Video Canada. By 1985, he had moved to Toronto as a member of the company’s board of directors, overseeing more than 650 franchises across North America. Within three years, however, he noted his own businesses were facing some challenges, and by 1988, he sold all the non-Sudbury locations and moved back home to focus on his company and his family.
FNX Mining Company has defied the odds, rising from a small junior to an ever-expanding producer capable of challenging historical players like CVRD Inco and Xstrata Nickel.
In fact, from 2002 through 2006, FNX has been the single largest explorer in the Sudbury area, having spent $100 million. By the end of 2007, the company will have drilled a whopping two million feet of core, totaling nearly 400 miles, or the distance between Toronto and Timmins.
This aggressive exploration has allowed FNX to maintain an impressive level of constant growth as it has consistently made new and significant discoveries in the shadows of former producing properties. As a result, it has managed to replace all reserves mined from 2004 through 2006, and things are on track to do the same in 2007.
What’s more, production has regularly increased by up to 50 percent year to year, with estimates indicating a possible million tons between its two active properties by the end of 2007. That number is expected to grow to nearly 1.8 million by 2010 as FNX brings additional properties into production.
“We’re the new kids on the block,” Terry MacGibbon, executive chair of FNX, said. “We work hard, we keep our heads down, and if the ducks and the stars all line up, we hope we do well.”
In 2006 alone, FNX generated $169.9 million in revenue and net earnings of $68.7 million, just three short years after shipping its first ton of ore.
New ideas, a change of focus, and willingness to take risks have propelled Sudbury-based Rezplast Manufacturing into new product developments now recognized in the realm of national and international markets.
Since 2004, the quickly-expanding company has made its mark throughout the global mining sector with their newly-designed portable Mining Toilet and Polar Climate safety shower. These novel products led to the awarding of the 2007 Northern Ontario Business Innovation Award.
Specializing in the design, manufacturing and supply of corrosion resistant fibreglass reinforced plastic, and thermoplastic for industrial and commercial applications, this small family-oriented business acted upon requests from local mine sites to address high maintenance costs for underground human waste removal.
Keeping in mind principle owner Paul Villgren’s philosophy “give the best product possible,” Rezplast stepped up to the plate. With an open and creative mindset, they designed a mini-sewage treatment plant within a self-contained, self-operated unit that has resulted in significant cost reductions for the mines.
“We took the Greater City of Sudbury’s waste water treatment plant’s entire process and scaled it down to a portable unit, patented our ideas and philosophies behind it, and put the product to work,” said part owner and general manager Sandro Spadafora.
This new model has the capacity to store daily waste from use of up to 40 people per day, for as long as two years. It is all air operated with no moving parts. The unit works like a septic system with no smell, rot or corrosion due to its fibreglass composition.
“The air keeps the bacteria-base alive, which basically destroys all matter,” Spadafora said. Its mobility allows the entire unit to be taken up to the surface to be emptied in a controlled setting. Consequently, it has eliminated weekly maintenance and environmental disposal fees, cross-contamination, and the manpower necessary for decontamination. It is a clean, safe alternative resulting in more than $80,000 of reported savings.
The Polar Climate safety shower, enclosed and insulated for sub-zero temperatures, provides an automated safety system in a climate-controlled atmosphere to prevent hypothermia. Designed for use in surface safety stations and required by law, the custom-built Polar Climate safety shower is targeted for colder climates. It can be found in places like Alaska, Thompson, Manitoba, Northern Ontario and Quebec.
Rezplast’s product development came about when Spadafora and Krista Villgren both stepped into ownership in 2003. They examined the company’s potential and where they could take it to “get ourselves on the map.”
Within a year, they developed the Mining Toilet and Polar Climate safety shower, and took their products to the Las Vegas Mining Show, placing them on the map in the international mining circles.
“Here we were, a little fibreglass company out of Sudbury, with a dream that maybe we could do something,” said Spadafora.
Since that show, they have attended at least 30 mining shows with their products, kick-starting export sales, which have soared to approximately 65 per cent.
Although the mobile toilet was originally designed for the mining environment, Spadafora sees endless possibilities for the unit. The American and Canadian military DART (Disaster Assistance Relief Team) have purchased several units.
“We are in the process of designing a fully enclosed unit they can use for major disasters.” They expect to launch this prototype at the 2008 Las Vegas mining show. Presently, they are also developing a “first of its kind safety shower system,” to be released by the fall of this year. “It’s a completely different system and will make everyone’s lives easier on the mine sites,” said Spadafora.
Increased demand also led to their new Notre Dame location. This 21,000-square-foot facility has allowed greater space for the expansion of the fibreglass and plastics divisions in export sales, in addition to the manufacturing, sales, installation and repair of plastic and fibreglass pipes and piping systems. The latter being the mainstay of the business, Rezplast maintains about 50 percent of their sales in this area.
Aligning with Sling-Choker Manufacturing, also owned by Villgren, Rezplast has broadened their sales and distribution network from about three sales people to approximately 50 which has solidified connections in the mining industries.
Dr. David Morris, 32, freely admits diving into mineral exploration business was a bit outside his comfort zone.
But his diamond drilling company is fast proving to be yet another success venture launched by the energetic Nickel City native.
He has two flourishing dental practices and has branched out his interests to serve the north’s industrial sector while doing his part to help revitalize Sudbury’s downtown core.
“No question, I was definitely entering unknown territory.”
It’s the newest venture in his stable of four companies that include a portable industrial trailer company, a trucking firm and a downtown Sudbury nightclub.
Experienced drillers and equipment are in short supply, so when they secured a contract this year from Canadian Arrow Mines to drill the first 5,000 metres of a highly prospective nickel deposit, it was critically important to make a good first impression.
“The big risk is they’re always looking for people, but if you (screw up), you’re done.”
The $800,000 investment they’ve made in their drilling company has generated enough work to keep their 10 employees and two drill rigs busy into next year with contracts worth more than $3 million.
As a self-admitted number-cruncher, calculated risks come with the territory for Morris.
In seven years, the Morris Group of Companies employ 40 full- and part-time employees and expects to generate more than $6.2 million in revenue for 2007.
But he places more value on improving people’s lives.
“I believe in the north, I believe in the community and now with the workers we have, it makes for a good team.”
Getting into the modular trailer business made perfect sense to Morris, even if the eyes of the bankers initially clouded over.
“They didn’t believe in it. They thought it was a silly idea.”
After striking up a conversation one day with his squash partner, Keith Denis, to talk about his work servicing and installing trailers for companies across the north, Morris was intrigued.
With an initial investment of $90,000 to purchase seven rental trailers, Morris Modular Space Inc. was established in May 2004.
Three years later, their fleet has grown to more than 150, catering to mineral exploration and industrial clients, and generating more than $1 million in annual revenues.
Born and raised in Sudbury as the oldest of four children, Morris followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the dental profession, graduating from University of Toronto Dental School in 2000.
It might have been easier to set up a cozy and quiet practice in Sudbury. He could have stayed in southern Ontario to satiate his entrepreneurial ambitions where bank financing is easier to obtain.
“I’ve always been a bit of a risk-taker,” said Morris. “I like the challenge.” And he wasn’t willing to relinquish fishing and water skiing at the family cottage.
He returned north to establish a practice east of Sudbury in Warren-St. Charles before opening a second office in Lively. “It’s been a very rewarding thing personally,” said Morris of his thriving Warren practice. “I make less money, but I enjoy it for the change of pace and we provide a good service.”
Many rural folk, some on social assistance, were in need of treatment there. “The people are very appreciative of it and for me, it keeps me really checked in reality."
He’s also done his part to spruce up Sudbury’s downtown with an upscale night club.
Realizing there was no eclectic gathering place for young professionals flush with new money, Morris and another partner, MacGill Monteleone, opened S.R.O. Lounge (Standing Room Only) in October 2006 in the former Eaton’s building on Durham St.
The Northern Ontario Business Awards, under the auspices of Northern Ontario Business, have honoured 170 winners in 21 years. The first awards dinner was held in Thunder Bay.
Northern Ontario Business and Northern Life are both published by Laurentian Publishing