Communicator

20 COMMUNICATOR failures and recommend solutions to keep equipment running longer and more effi- ciently. Richard Baribeau, branch manager of North Bay (logistics and supply chain), links value added "to bringing in new parts sales," and on that score his branch's recent associa- tion with the Department of National Defence is a significant gain for his 73-member crew. "We're the only facility of our kind in northern Ontario certified to handle the work, and we're beginning our first project for them in December," he says. "For security reasons, their strategy is to compartmentalize the pro- curement of parts for each project and then assemble them with their own people." Computer modelling software (CAD, CAM and CNC) is a crucial part of Baribeau's 120,000-square-foot shop's operations. "It has contributed to the trust we've developed with clients such as Redpath Mining, who essentially tell us what and how many com- ponents they need and then leave us alone to build them," he says. Computer modelling also facilitates one-off projects such as a baler the North Bay crew recently designed in conjunction with Motion Canada in Manitoba, which was constructed for an agricultural client in Winnipeg. Among North Bay's many distinguishing projects are the rubber track car- riers it produces for Chicago- based Terramac, the RT9 model of which (with an 18,000-pound capacity) is becoming the crawler carrier of choice for the pipeline, mining, drilling and utility industries across North America. Baribeau notes, "We're now pro- ducing an RT14 model that has a 14-ton capacity." Typically, Motion's shops have begun small and grown due to the ambitious nature of their entrepreneurial general man- agers. North Bay first opened as a basic ser- vice centre two decades ago, but Baribeau's and power manager Andy Smith's – and their teams' – appreciation for providing value- added services led them to accommodate everything from bolting small items together photos courtesy Motion Industries (Canada) F E AT U R E North Bay produces rubber track carriers for Chicago-based Terramac, including the new RT14 model that has a 14-ton capacity. The older model RT9 is the crawler carrier of choice for the pipeline, mining, drilling and utility industries across North America.

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