Growth expected for metal fabrication industries

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

With the oil and gas downturn, it has been said that Alberta needs to diversify to create income and employment.
Community Futures Wild Rose has an idea to promote industrial growth and employment in rural areas.
“We have several mandates and one is community and economic development. In our region, we had a project set up to see what metal fabrication is all about,” said David Petrovich, business analyst from Community Futures Wild Rose.
Community Futures Wild Rose collaborated with the Alberta Ministry of Labour, the federal government and Rocky View County to research labour market issues that would support manufacturing industries in this area. Petrovich said a similar program in Australia developed the formula for business development, generating successful steps to nurture and develop business growth.
The metal fabrication industry was chosen as a target group, to generate a template that could later be applied to other industry development.
He stated that the process involves three stages, with the group already completing the first stage, which contains labour market research and asset analysis on the metal fabrication industry.
“The most important thing that came out of that (first stage research) were recommendations that we needed to engage with government, work with the educators, develop an industry organization and develop a strategic plan for metal fabrication,” said Petrovich.
He asked Wheatland County council for $3,000 to support the second and third stage. Newell County have also been asked for support, while Brooks and Bassano have committed to funding.
The initiative already has support from Rocky View County, Community Futures Entre-Corp, Olds College, Bow Valley College and Skills Metal Inc.
Owners of Skills Metal Inc., one of the project partners, were asked to provide industry contacts and information for the study. It was emphasized that they are not given any preferential treatment in results or application of the study.
The federal government has identified that by 2022, metal fabrication will be a leading industry of growth in Canada. Wheatland County has also identified manufacturing as a potential growth industry in the county. Metal fabrication supports several supply chains for agricultural products. There are many smaller fabrication businesses in the region and a goal of the initiative is to bring together these industries and support their businesses in a significant manner. There is an indication these businesses can expand to other markets in addition to oil and gas.
The third stage of the project will be to encourage the business and financial sectors to support the development of metal fabrication businesses.
Total cost for the project is $66,000 – $30,000 provided by Alberta Labour, $16,000 generated in cash and $20,000 in-kind contributions.
Councillor Ben Armstrong asked why government is getting involved in industry. He felt a good industry would find its own level and grow on its own. He wondered if businesses would welcome interference.
Petrovitch said government policies and rules are often generalized and the specific effects they have on industry are not really realized. He also said organizing the industries would help businesses partners together to access value chains for bidding and purchasing.
“It is an interesting comment… but here is the problem. Government just by its nature ends up creating barriers for the industry itself. That has been proven over and over,” said Petrovich. “What they realize is they need to get everyone in the room and find out what barriers have been created. We have barriers in our education sector right now. Industry owners have reported that they have had employees come to their shops not even knowing how to use a tape measure.”
Councillor Amber Link said education was also one of Wheatland County’s economic development goals, and she supported the partnership’s efforts to work with post-secondary training, indicating there are deficiencies in education programs.
Petrovich said the education partners at Olds College and Bow Valley College have indicated they don’t get much feedback from industry and are looking forward to hearing what the industry needs.
“Being a young member on council, a lot of my friends are coming out of secondary programs and looking for opportunities and jobs; and with the downturn in the economy, they are having trouble with that,” said Councillor Jason Wilson. “So I really like incorporating education with the metal industry. I think having a transition from education to a job is great… it is enabling.”
Petrovich said that a follow-up report and feedback could be given to council at the end of the process.