Behlen Industries credits the booming Canadian economy for its decision to spend $3 million on a plant expansion at Brandon.
The expansion will give the company an additional 2,232 sq. metres of manufacturing space for its steel buildings and bins, pushing the overall size of the Brandon plant to18,040 sq. metres.
“Our sales have grown each year in the last couple of years by 10 percent,” said Behlen Industries marketing manager Stephen Harding. “We see this expansion as allowing us to move forward and serve the demand in Canada, as well as the demand that we seem to be enjoying outside the country.”
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Many prairie farmers recognize Behlen Industries as a manufacturer of Quonset-style buildings and grain bins.
However, the company has broadened its portfolio of steel buildings and products to suit a wide range of markets, from commercial and industrial through to recreational and institutional.
The expansion at the Brandon plant, which is to be completed in May, will increase the welding capacity of the company’s Flex-sys building system production line by more than 30 percent.
Manufacturing at the Brandon plant has tended to be seasonal. Harding said the company hopes the expansion will support more year-round employment for workers while also creating new jobs.
Alberta’s booming oil industry is an important driver behind the decision to expand, he said.
The residential boom in Ontario also is a factor, since the housing expansion tends to be accompanied by commercial and light industrial ventures with an appetite for steel-framed and steel-clad buildings.
“Our two biggest markets are Alberta and Ontario,” said Harding, whose office is in Burlington, Ont. “In Brandon, we’re centrally located to service both those markets.”
The national demand from agriculture for Behlen products has stayed consistent this year, Harding said, with optimism in some provinces making up for any downturn in others where crop prospects are not as great.
Behlen launched a new product this year, the Crop Circle, which is made from steel rings laid on the ground to hold grain. The grain stored within the circle can be covered with a tarp to protect it from the elements.
“It has really taken off this year, especially in Alberta,” Harding said, noting that grain bins and Quonset sheds remain an important part of the company’s business.
