When it comes to teaming up with an industrial contractor that cares, international giants like Toyota Canada, Irving Tissue, ATS, and others call on AIM Industrial Inc. for its superb multi-trades skill set and customer care that benefits a diverse range of industries.
From its base in Cambridge, Ontario, AIM Industrial Inc. mainly serves the southwest region of the province with great commitment to quality. It is this dedication that has secured the company’s reputation as the go-to for industrial millwrighting, rigging, and other trade services.
The AIM Industrial team consists of a range of service groups relating to: electrical, piping, mechanical, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, rigging, and of course, millwrighting. AIM’s Multi-Trade groups not only move entire manufacturing plants, but also handle: MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Operations) work, process installations/modifications of all kinds, complete line changes, trouble-shooting, capital projects, manpower support/coverage, and more. Specific work includes, but is not limited to, sheet metal and ducts, process equipment and robotics. As part of its comprehensive services, the company can perform steel fabrication, machining, plant fabrication, demolition and decommissioning.
The company ascribes much of its success to taking charge of its supply chain, and its carefully chosen group of suppliers enables it to stay abreast of technology to deliver advanced solutions. A recent example was when it added the latest CNC 3-Axis Machining Station to its brand new, state-of-the-art fabrication facility.
“We are proud of what we have built and how we can assist both big and small companies [in] keeping their businesses running cost-effectively and safely,” says Craig Dubecki, Business Development and Sales and Marketing Specialist.
This approach to business delivers more than just trustworthy products and services. It means that experienced staff and solid systems support smooth delivery, allowing the company’s clients’ operations to do the same. From meeting the client’s requirements for purchase orders and accounting records to ensuring that all equipment and tools arrive at each job site on schedule, doing business with the AIM Industrial team means they address every detail.
The care that AIM puts into every project extends to safety, with all requirements being carefully considered and tracked by its dedicated, in-house safety department. The team’s Project Managers consult with their clients and engineers to ensure that standards are adhered to and that all precautionary measures are performed before work commences. Projects are concluded by its warehouse staff, who safely remove all equipment and tools from job sites, after which all documentation is finalized, and the projects are completed as promptly as possible.
With continuous improvement being one of its main goals, the company moved into a snazzy new facility in 2018. The move marked its third major expansion in only eleven years. This was followed by adding another 60,000 square feet to its footprint to house its new equipment collection. This boasts a complete tool and equipment crib, new Master Cam programming machining center, a large paint booth, a new break and shear, and four, full-length, self-installed overhead bay cranes. Naturally, all this contributes to the company’s incredible agility in response to market demands, keeping it ahead of its competition.
Thanks to the company’s reputation for quality, Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 manufacturing feeder plants supplying multinationals such as Ford and Chrysler, Magna, AISIN, and Tenneco, rely on AIM Industrial Inc. for its outstanding offerings. Global food and beverage giants like Treehouse, Ferrero Rocher and Bunge Loders Croklaan have all made use of its services for many years. Consumables, chemical, and pharmaceutical clients include Rockwool, BWXT, and Sanofi Pasteur and heavy industry fabricators like St. Mary’s Cement and Lafarge, a concrete, cement and composites specialist. As if that is not ample proof of the company’s capabilities, it also assists in data center installations for institutions like hospitals and Canada’s Waterloo, Laurier, and Guelph Universities.
The company was established by its current president, Scott Henrich in 2008. As a professional millwright with more than thirty years’ experience in the industrial contracting field, Henrich brought in former trades colleagues Chuck Asmussen and Steve Skrypec as co-owners. The trio of expert tradesmen was joined by others from the industry who respected their work ethic and reputation for excellence. AIM Industrial Inc. was off to a fantastic start.
The name was inspired by providing the industry with top millwrights, machine riggers, and ironworkers. The company later expanded its services by contracting third-party suppliers of piping, mechanical, electrical work, and fabrication services. It grew against the odds, successfully completing one prestigious project after another as it overcame global economic pressure and survived the 2009 recession.
The acquisition of electrical and piping companies followed a period of robust growth, and with that, its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) capacities were established. Next, the demand for steel fabrication spurred another growth phase that brought about the second relocation and expansion. The food and beverage, consumer products, and automotive industries drove the next big change that resulted in its most recent relocation and largest expansion.
Today, the company is equipped to handle everything from low and high-voltage installations to improving hydraulic systems and injection mold and extruder machine installations. It also does large installations in the pharmaceutical manufacturing field. AIM Industrial Inc. upholds annual HVAC service contracts with large manufacturers with more than one hundred air handling units, chillers, boilers, and burners.
The company’s trade associations further enforce its commitment to quality, with the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB), Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), and the Electrical Safety Association (ESA) all supporting its standards. It is also a member of several third-party owner-supplier companies such as Browz, ISN, Avetta, SAP, and Bravo Solutions.
Around two hundred AIM Industrial Inc. professionals build warm customer relationships based on trust and rapid response times. Here, business is based on a culture of family tradition, with multiple generations of a family often working for the company. “There is [also] a sense of family amongst our suppliers [with] whom we have grown a relationship with over decades. We are all on the same page,” says Dubecki.
Naturally, there have been many successes over the years. These include establishing satellite offices at both Toyota’s Canadian manufacturing facilities and being awarded Toyota’s Top Contractor distinction over several consecutive years.
It was also selected to supply a prominent original equipment manufacturer with millwrighting, rigging, electrical, piping, mechanical, and fabrication services for the recent expansion of a large local food plant. “[This project] was a true testament to AIM’s versatility, talent, and depth not only to perform the work but also to project-manage while maintaining constant assistance for our other clients,” Dubecki says.
As technology continues to bring global operations ever closer to clients, competition is increasing. This is forcing smaller operators to take an in-depth look at the needs, culture, and psychology of the companies they wish to work with in order to understand how they operate and thus, how to build meaningful and sustained relationships. “We listen with an open mind to hear [clients’] needs and provide progressive ideas to improve the efficiency of their processes,” he says.
AIM Industrial monitors both the current and future market trends and is well-positioned to expand its current capabilities in both volume and variety of steels and alloys to its list of materials. The company will also diversify its departments and add supplementary services in response to industry demands.
Dubecki foresees huge changes for the industry. “Mechatronics and automation are going to continue to evolve with great force in many ways – some ways we can’t even envision at this time,” he says. In addition, he sees automation and robotics also growing in relevance alongside electrical technology progress.
These industry developments hold the further promise of more growth, in keeping with AIM Industrial’s goal of adding another one hundred people over the next five years while maintaining quality and excellent customer service.
