Yet despite the many success stories, Black business owners still encounter challenges regarding racism, access to capital, and other issues. Fortunately, awareness of Black-owned brands and businesses is on the rise, aided by social media and dynamic organizations in Canada and the United States that are helping to shine a light on the many opportunities, products, and services that come from members of the Black community.

A legacy of innovation
For Black innovators, the road to success has been far from an easy one and to this day, the names of many Black pioneers in their fields remain largely unsung. Inventors like Johann Gutenberg, creator of the printing press; Jethro Tull, inventor of the seed drill; telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell; and Thomas Edison, who held 2,332 patents worldwide (1,093 in America alone) for countless devices, are household names. But shamefully, many of the names of pioneering Black innovators, inventors, doctors, engineers, and businessmen and women remain relegated to history textbooks.

While the name Marie Van Brittan Brown is relatively unknown, for instance, her work has helped make the world a much safer place.

Frustrated by excruciatingly slow police response times, Brown, a nurse, invented the basis for today’s home security systems when she attached a camera to a series of peepholes in 1966. And without the valuable contributions of Otis Boykin—who held over 20 patents—many men and women with heart issues would not be alive today. Creating a resistor initially used in computers and guided missiles, Boykin’s technology soon became a vital part of the success of pacemakers.

Other Black inventors have been behind innovations we use every day, such as the ubiquitous three-light traffic signal courtesy of Garrett Morgan and the foil electret microphone, co-invented by James E. West. Even Thomas Edison’s most famous invention, the incandescent lamp, benefited from introducing a long-lasting carbon filament developed by African American Lewis Latimer.

Gaining ground
The predominant worldview on Black innovators and businesspeople is, fortunately, changing. According to Export Development Canada (EDC), there are an estimated 144,980 Black-owned businesses in the country, representing 2.4 percent of all businesses in Canada. Earlier this year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported there were 3.7 million Black-owned businesses in the United States, a significant 14 percent increase over 2020.

Although these figures are promising, Black Americans comprise some 12.4 percent of America’s overall population of 341,809,591. White Americans, who make up about 59 percent of the population, represent 86 percent of business owners.

In the book History of Black Business: The Coming of America’s Largest Black-Owned Businesses, authors Martin and Jacqueline Hunt detail the early years of Black businesses and barriers to growth. “Slaves, ex-slaves, craftsmen, and many of the nearly 60,000 free African Americans in 1790 contributed in some way to Black business’ past,” state the Hunts. “There were ship builders, fur traders, barbers, saloon owners, and city founders who were entrepreneurs prior to the Civil War.”

In the early days, many of these businesses catered primarily to African American customers, and included insurance companies, banks, and cosmetics companies. Unfortunately, many Black inventors were behind the creation of innovative products which led to successful companies yet were prevented from owning them due to “extreme racial prejudice,” write the authors.

Black businesses on the rise
Today, myriad types of companies are Black-owned and operated, from law firms to fashion retailers, marketing to automotive. In Canada, about one percent of federal business innovation and growth support (BIGS) has been allocated to Black-owned businesses, with the highest numbers in Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. In many cases, primary business owners are “most likely to be the business owner (or manager) among all known owners and office bearers,” according to StatsCan. And about 75 percent of these businesses are owned by men compared to just 25 percent owned by Black women.

Much like Canadian provinces with larger populations, more populous U.S. states like Florida (with 18,502), California (15,014), and Georgia (14,394) are home to greater numbers of Black-owned enterprises.

Even with more and more Black-owned and operated companies in Canada and the U.S., challenges persist. Statistics reveal Black-owned businesses—compared to white-owned firms—are less profitable, with profit margins of about 8.5 percent compared to 14.9 percent for the latter. Other challenges to growth remain, such as Black-owned businesses often having a harder time accessing bank loans compared to white-owned companies.

Recognizing funding inequities, Canada’s Federal Government created the Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund, a component of the Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP), in 2021. Representing an investment of up to $265 million over a four-year period, the BEP is aimed at helping Black Canadian owners and entrepreneurs grow their businesses for success today and into the future. Previously, the Federal Government hosted the now-closed National Ecosystem Fund and the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, which focused on mentorship, business training, and identifying barriers to success.

The modern world has brought us tools that make it easier to connect with Black-owned businesses, such as the Black Business Direct website (presented by Uber, at https://blackbusinessdirect.ca), and the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce (CBCC). The CBCC helps connect Canada’s Black businesses to the Global Black diaspora, while the Black Business Direct site is a convenient, easy-to-use site where customers can search by city and categories like Food & Hospitality or Home Improvement.

Certainly, Black-owned businesses not only benefit their owners and customers with goods and services, but also provide much-needed jobs and a boost to the nations’ economies. Through raising awareness and access, the number of Black-owned businesses across North America will surely continue to rise and play an even more important role in job creation and community impact in the years to come. Supporting these businesses is not simply a matter of economic growth, but also of fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within our societies, for the betterment of all.

The post Strength in Numbers<p class="company">Black Business Ownership on the Rise</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“Our market is truly global. We do have a steady customer base within Canada and the United States. I would say we’re the go-to solution for a SWAT [special weapons and tactics] vehicle with Canadian law enforcement,” notes President and Chief Executive Officer Durward Smith proudly.

Terradyne offers a variety of armored vehicles under what it calls the GURKHA line, named after the famously tough soldiers from Nepal who have served in the British Army since the early 1800s. The lineup includes the 16,000-pound Light-Armored Patrol Vehicle (LAPV), the 16,500-pound Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV), and the 15,500-pound Rapid-Patrol Vehicle (RPV). They feature six-speed automatic transmissions and V8 turbo diesel engines capable of 330 horsepower.

“Government law enforcement are the main end users in all the categories,” says Smith, of the LAPV, MPV, and RPV.

The company’s vehicles protect more than just police officers. The Multi-Purpose Vehicle, for example, “is not necessarily a front-line fighting vehicle, but it’s an important supply type vehicle. We have, for example, supplied it into Ukraine where the medical forces are using it as a frontline evacuation vehicle. It does an awfully good job of keeping everyone safe,” Smith states.

The company also makes a Civilian Limited Edition Vehicle (CIV) which weighs 13,500 pounds. The CIV closely resembles its GURKHA counterparts but is the only vehicle Terradyne produces that can be purchased by members of the public.

While it stocks and sells spare parts and components made by its global supply base, the company’s vehicles are developed and made in-house. “We design them,” says Smith. “We have a pre-determined option list; however, we are open to special requests within reason. We obviously like to work with the needs of our customers.”

GURKHA vehicles offer military-grade protection against all manner of threats, and to prove their worth, the vehicles are put through ferocious testing. The company hires third-party laboratories to test and inspect if its wares meet National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) standards. The NIJ is the self-described “research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice,” while NATO is a coalition of European nations which banded together in a mutually supportive military pact.

Testing can literally involve firing weapons at vehicles or subjecting them to explosions. “To start, you test the material, and once the material has proven it works, they fire at the vehicle looking for what are termed ‘structural weak areas’. We’ve had armor-piercing rounds shot at [our vehicles] with zero penetration,” says Smith. “We’ve done full-vehicle destructive testing, both ballistic and blast. Not only are the test reports available for customers, the test vehicle itself is available at our factory for them to review.”

He notes that Terradyne vehicles recently passed some extreme side-blast tests. These tests were conducted in the United States and involved “a significant amount of TNT equivalent and a large blast,” he says.

“People who are experienced in the industry don’t use the term ‘bulletproof,’” he adds. “It’s about manufacturing the armor to protect against a pre-determined threat level.” GURKHA vehicles are “armored to the highest level within our class of vehicle,” with the company using an “engineered, metallic solution using steel especially formulated for armor plate.”

According to Terradyne specifications, protective armor on the LAPV, MPV, and RPV meets NIJ IV / B7 / STANAG 2 levels. This stands for ‘standardization agreement’ and is a term used for NATO testing.

While strong, Terradyne’s armor plating is relatively light, which makes for improved vehicle dynamics, driving performance, and durability. The vehicles also feature extremely tough glass and run-flat inserts on the wheels. The latter enable the vehicle to keep driving even after a rubber tire has been punctured or shot out, explains Smith.

The Civilian Limited Edition Vehicle has optional armor and an upgraded interior. “We initially were not servicing that market, kind of intentionally staying away from it. However, we were still getting a fairly strong demand signal from the customer side,” he says of the CIV. “So, we came up with a product for them.”

Some people purchase a CIV because they like the “security aspect to it—where it could function as a rolling ‘panic room’ type of application, should that ever be needed. [Other customers] have means and they are maybe a little bored with typical things,” he continues. “They are unique, and they are looking for a unique vehicle.”

The company’s armored vehicles are built upon a Ford Super Duty truck chassis, and all manufacturing is done in Newmarket. Supplier loyalty is a core element of the company’s quality assurance program, and Terradyne maintains ISO 9000 and 14000 certification and extremely high standards. Each workstation in the plant has specific instructions on which operators are trained. There are quality checks at each station along the way, a final inspection, and annual third-party audits. The company only works with suppliers who are equally quality-focused. “We’re loyal to our supply base and they’re loyal back to us,” says Smith.

“We like to know for the sake of our customers that what we’re providing works well and is proven. We take changes in key components very seriously. We tend to stay with suppliers long-term, and we pick vendors that we consider to offer the best product globally,” he adds.

The company has produced up to 100 vehicles in a year, with the capacity to go higher. Completed armored vehicles are either sold directly to clients or through dealers. The U.S. military is not using any Terradyne vehicles at present, although the company is in discussions with Canadian defense officials regarding possible sales.

The company maintains an inventory of tires and spare components and can also make a replacement part if need be. “If someone needs a new door, we can manufacture a door here and send it out to them and it’s going to fit their vehicle.”

Terradyne was founded in 2011 as a subsidiary of Magna International, a huge Canadian auto parts manufacturer, and from the start, Terradyne’s work was centered on armored vehicles. Three years after it was launched, it became an independent outfit.

In terms of new hires, “We definitely want people who are flexible, able to take on different tasks, with a focus on quality. Obviously, we have a lot of welders as well as assemblers and people doing electrical work. So, our range of workers can go from an entry-level assembly type of job up to someone who is pretty advanced and skilled on welding or vehicle electronics,” Smith explains.

The company is registered with the Controlled Goods Program, a Canadian initiative that enables it to export products or data that have “military or national security significance,” according to the Government of Canada website. Under Canadian regulations, GURKHA armored vehicles are also street legal, adds Smith.

To promote itself, Terradyne attends trade shows and industry events around the world for law enforcement groups and places advertisements in specialty trade publications. On occasion, the company will produce prototypes for potential clients. “We will sometimes make demonstrator vehicles available to select customers,” Smith explains. “It’s a big purchase for them, and sometimes, just having the ability to try it out provides the experience and the evidence they need to say, ‘Yeah, this is the product we want.’”

Educating the market about the benefits of GURKHA armored vehicles is the company’s biggest challenge at present, he adds. Over the next few years, “I would say we will be continuing to increase market share. I think customers are becoming more conscious and aware of the quality that they’re buying, not to mention the standing of the company they’re dealing with—the product reputation. And we will also continue to develop and incorporate new technologies and integrate those into our vehicles—increasing the tool kit within the vehicle, if you will.”

The post Providing Protection With Unique Vehicles<p class="company">Terradyne Armored Vehicles</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Traditionally serving the WISP and ISP communities in Canada with numerous installation clients, TDL Canada acquired Gentek—a leading distributor of unified communications and connectivity products—two years ago, and even more recently acquired Microcel, a value-added distributor of consumer goods products.

“During COVID, we all raced to get more connected and flexible on work areas and work-from-home scenarios, and with that both businesses—TDL and Gentek—were in a position to provide customers with the solutions they needed,” says Tina Furlan, Vice President of Marketing. “When TDL Canada acquired Gentek, the customer base and product categories were very complementary.”

Now well into the merger of the two companies, both are finding that the two work “really well” in the Canadian market and the different product categories carried, she adds. This includes broadband, networking, security—which is a growth focus—cybersecurity solutions, and consumer goods, a wide array of products overall for TDL Canada.

With about 75 employees providing service across Canada, TDL Gentek is one of the only distributors in the country that “is Canadian-owned,” says Furlan. “We only service Canadians and all of our products are housed in Canada. Everything ships from a Canadian distributor. Often you have cross-border imports of various products, but we really try to focus on making sure everything is in Canada and available and all the import is taken care of.”

In addition to the company’s already expansive product offering, it is also delving into an evolving expansion in the security scene. “Security is important in the market,” says Furlan. “With changes in regulations, there’s a big opportunity for us to really dive into the security sector.”

With respect to that category, TDL Gentek offers a wide variety of reliable products and several very popular brands, including Uniview and Ubiquiti that provide products such as IP cameras, NVRs, and access control solutions. “Our team is able to help customers integrate and map out the ideal security solution and give our customers robust, reliable security solutions,” she adds.

When looking at the security landscape in Canada, and into the U.S. as well, a lot of MSPs actually have an entire securities division, which is something the company focuses on. And when looking at TDL Gentek, each of its categories and brands offers training and certification, so the company can help its partners with that element. “We think it’s very important for everybody to be well trained and understand the product for their customers and have the opportunity to train their end users.” Furlan says.

To that end, TDL Gentek has several certification programs from Uniview, Ubiquiti, Grandstream, and many others as well. “Certainly, from that value-add perspective, we work to make sure that our customers are going to succeed,” she says.

This value-added approach is very comprehensive, she adds. Within every category, including security, TDL Gentek ensures customers have everything they need, from cabling to point-to-point antennas to the cameras to monitor an entire facility. Not only that, but they can also do it through LTE (Long-Term Evolution, a fourth-generation [4G] wireless standard) because they carry an LTE line of products which will service very remote business locations.

“If there’s a mine in the north that needs connectivity, we can accommodate that. We can get them LTE devices that allow the facility to have fully functioning security, unified communications, and networking capabilities.” says Furlan. “And we have the experts in-house to help spec those solutions out.”

Providing and maintaining customer service is high priority for the company, she adds. “I think that’s what makes us truly value-added, because we can help our customers put together the solutions, map out and plan what they’re going to need for their networks and for specific deployments,” she says. “It’s very hands-on, one-on-one, and ‘white glove service.’ We support our customers with a number of services and do more than just ship out products. It’s important to our business.”

Whether it’s site assessments, installation, support, or ongoing technical assistance, all of that and more applies across the board, as well as the company’s security category of products. Additionally, to combat the automation and AI generation of customer service, TDL Gentek strives to maintain a personal, human connection with clients and companies.

“We have people who answer the phone,” Furlan says. “It’s something we pride ourselves on, because it’s not always the way anymore. Some companies do that, and some companies don’t. But this is what we think is important.”

Along with that dedication to personalized and expert customer care, TDL Gentek’s commitment to remaining a Canadian brand is another reason it stands out in the industry. “When working with a Canadian company, you’ll get a great deal of local expertise,” Furlan says. “TDL Gentek has more than 45 years of experience of distributing product in Canada with a deep understanding of how to get product in easily, how to manage the tax implications, the imports. But not only that—when you talk about local expertise, TDL Gentek understands the regulations around every aspect of our business. It’s really another value-add for our customers.”

This means faster delivery times as the company stocks products in Canada with warehouses located across the country. In short, buying local is faster than going international. “It helps with operational efficiency for all of our customers.”

Challenges the company has faced recently have been both operational and marketing-related but are likely not much different than what many other businesses in this current economy have to deal with. “Operationally, scaling our operations, ensuring product availability, and bringing in new brands, all while improving our systems has been challenging,” Furlan says. “It’s a delicate balance and we’ve seen success.”

Of course, there have also been numerous accomplishments for the company, such as maintaining revenue growth over the last couple of years in the face of other challenges and forging strong partnerships.

“In terms of strategic partnerships, we have some great brands that we work with, like Teltonika, Ubiquiti, and Uniview, and it’s important to all of our vendors that new products go to market smoothly,” says Furlan. “It’s about staying on top of trends and making sure we’re bringing in the right products and the right partnerships,” she shares.

Plans for the upcoming years include a focus on product expansion and operational excellence while remaining true to the Canadian channel. “It’s very important for our customers that we remain true to the channel while we grow our market share,” Furlan says. “We don’t go direct to end user; we work through the channel.”

When it comes to innovative products, the company will continually strive to stay at the forefront, and clients will see TDL Gentek’s services continue to evolve and expand. The team is always on the lookout for places where it can add value. “We want to make sure we maintain and expand appropriately, to make sure that we’re servicing our customers properly,” says Furlan.

While TDL Gentek continues to focus on the diversity of its product portfolio, its strong Canadian presence, and its value-added services, its customer-centric approach is also one of the many attributes that truly sets it apart from other industry leaders, and one it takes immense pride in.

This means supporting customers after the sale is complete as well, adds Furlan. “It’s not just about that sale; the relationship continues on. And because we carry some very prominent brands and because we’re in distribution, we can help our customers take advantage of vendor-supported programs.” This includes initiatives for upgrading networks, volume, and pricing—all of the standard services found at that distribution level.

Ultimately, “We want all of our customers be very successful,” Furlan says. “We want them to understand the product and trust us to be their distributor.”

The post Making Connections Through Reliable Communication Solutions<p class="company">TDL Gentek</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The company has grown steadily since its 1971 launch in Salzburg, Austria. “Over the course of those 50-plus years, we have really expanded to cover the globe and expanded in a couple different directions from a technical, innovative perspective,” says President of Commend Americas, Tom Reilly. “We have expanded to cover the world in a very entrepreneurial way, where we have local leadership and local presence to cover and support our customers. So, we have maintained a very responsible way of scaling so that we can be very consultative and present with our end users.”

Commend’s global headquarters, R&D, and production remain in Salzburg, while the American division is run out of Mahwah, New Jersey.

Cybersecurity experts
Commend “established cybersecurity as one of our core development and organizational principles, frankly before it was really the buzzword it is today,” says Reilly. “What we realized is our devices are uniquely positioned, in that we were one of the first companies to really offer IP-based network audio communication for enterprises. Essentially, it’s intercom devices on unprotected parts of buildings, on the outside perimeter, to control restricted access. We decided to take a very, very firm stance in establishing privacy and security by design.”

After developing an expertise in cybersecurity, the company has “pioneered advancements in the years since then,” Reilly says. “We were one of the first manufacturers—definitely the first in our market segment—to obtain ISO 27001 certification and also IEC 62443, which demonstrates our very rounded and principled base focus on cybersecurity for the way we run our business and the way we develop our products. This commitment to cybersecurity is integral to our operations, from securing our supply chain to developing our go-to-market strategy. So, we have the ability to demonstrate cybersecurity from the start of product consideration into the final development and deployment on our customers’ networks.”

Cybersecurity is paramount because Commend supports critical infrastructure around the world, including international corporate campuses, leading education campuses, healthcare institutions, correctional facilities, and data centers. “All critical infrastructure with really high network security requirements,” Reilly says. “We want to not only be compliant; we want to be the manufacturer that can lead with best practices, and that is the focus of what we have established.”

Commend also boasts a “powerful presence” across a variety of sectors that are not considered critical infrastructure. There is a “need for high-quality, cybersecure audio in every other professional use case beyond that,” Reilly points out.

“What we really want the market to understand is that we take a hybrid approach of focusing on certain markets where we can be that consultative partner, but we have also developed our product line so that it can be that professional audio solution for everything in between,” he explains. “Think from one device or one public address speaker all the way up to a networked collection of facilities together.”

The team has “developed a unique cloud hybrid methodology,” Reilly shares. “So we have a cloud technology that can be deployed seamlessly from one device to thousands—all one managed system—but we also have on-premise solutions that can be seamlessly networked together into the same solution.”

Artificial intelligence
As with cybersecurity, the team made the decision to focus on AI early in the game, “especially compared to other players,” Reilly says. “We felt like it was important for the value proposition we provided.” This has led to “continuous evolution” with the goal of “delivering the highest quality, most secure and trusted audio communication for our customers.”

One key challenge that AI helps resolve is clarity of communication. Commend products are placed in “tough acoustical environments,” from noisy train platforms to bustling city streets, “all areas that have really challenging acoustical profiles,” Reilly points out. “So, we have always been a leader in developing traditional audio algorithms to enable clear communication.”

The team recognized that, with the help of AI, they could elevate the audio experience for the client by removing background noise. “We have deployed AI in a really exciting way for that use case,” says Reilly.

The U.S. Security Industry Association (SIA) recognized this achievement in 2024 with the Best in Communication and Networking Solutions award. This was awarded for Commend’s “AI Cleans Voice from Noise,” the game-changing solution to the background noise problem. The previous year, Commend won SIA’s New Products and Solutions Award in the Communications and Networking Solutions category. This recognition was for Ivy, the world’s first conversational AI-based intercom voice assistant.

Ivy assists call center operators in fielding calls. “It allows them to focus on the ones that actually need their intervention,” Reilly says. “It is very important for them to prioritize calls.” The technology determines which calls need human intervention and, among the ones that do, determines the level of importance, separating urgent calls from routine ones.

“It is not a prescriptive chatbot,” Reilly explains. “It learns the intent of spoken language, so it adapts over time. And it automates calls that don’t need human intervention.” If the automated calls are not quickly resolved to satisfaction, the technology will reroute them to a human agent.

Ivy also has the ability to translate language. Say, for example, “somebody approaches a help point at a subway platform and they speak Polish, but they are in New York. There is a barrier of effective communication there, and it is a language one. The traditional solution would be to route calls to different call center operators that are multilingual, but that is obviously restrictive.” Commend’s technology bridges that gap with real-time translation on both sides of the conversation into virtually any language. “You can literally come up and say, ‘please speak Spanish to me,’ and it will speak Spanish,” Reilly explains.

The technology also serves the hearing-impaired. “Our devices can be multisensory, so it is not just audio,” he says. “It is also a touchscreen display on the device that can do live, real-time transcription of the live communication with the operator or with the Ivy conversational AI engagement. So not only will it give audible help, but it will also give text help, either for hearing impaired people or for people to have a record of what was discussed.”

Looking ahead
The team is eager to keep building on the company’s strengths and successes. “Commend internationally has continued to realize market leadership and growth,” Reilly says. “We see the security and communication market continue to expand and our percentage of market share continues to outpace that growth. So, despite the fact that we’ve been in business for 50 years internationally and 20 years in the states, globally we are still in growth mode.”

The team plans to continue to challenge themselves to develop better ways to solve problems. An ongoing goal is to help customers “really understand the evolving challenges that are in front of them.” Company leadership is actively “identifying the market drivers that are really going to be impacting our customers and investing the time to learn those drivers,” says Reilly.

Certainly, the company is nimble enough to react quickly to these drivers. “We are big in our market in that we are the largest professional intercom provider globally, but we are still a small company. That is enabling us to be very receptive to those changes and drivers [and] respond in a positive way.” With a foundation this strong, a positive future seems as clear as the company’s audio.

Call to action
Commend is poised to lead the future of secure, innovative communication solutions. To learn more about how Commend can enhance your infrastructure with cutting-edge technology, visit the company’s website or contact the team directly for a consultation.

The post Leading Communication Solutions<p class="company">Commend Americas</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

In a competitive market, this commitment has sometimes made growth challenging, as many companies aim to cut costs whenever possible. Nonetheless, Security Engineers has consistently prioritized high-quality, efficient security solutions. Today, this commitment is more relevant than ever, as advancements in security technology have made professional-grade security accessible even to those with modest budgets. Since its inception, the company has focused on disproving the stereotypes associated with minimalist security approaches.

Over the next 30 years, the company significantly expanded its offerings, extending its reach to 16 states across the American South and beyond. In the last three decades, Security Engineers has evolved from a basic guard service company into a national leader in security solutions.

31 years ago, Security Engineers began by specializing in uniform guard services. By 1997, the company expanded to include background check services. About five years ago, its offerings further expanded to include advanced technologies like mobile surveillance units (MSUs) and fixed surveillance units (FSUs). These units, equipped with cameras, radar systems, and talk-down speakers, can be deployed at virtually any client site.

With these technological advancements, clients can access live feeds and conduct alert-based monitoring, which is ideal for businesses working within a budget. These solutions are continually enhanced with features like motion-based detection and artificial intelligence modules that can identify the presence of humans or animals, providing immediate notifications. These improvements add an extra layer of security and peace of mind for clients.

Technological advancements have also been driven by strategic partnerships. In 2022, Security Engineers became a dealer for Alarm.com, offering its perimeter security, access control, and camera systems to a broader client base. Vice President James Bottom emphasizes that effective security solutions must integrate various components.

“There is no perfect security,” he says. “You have to institute layers of security to have a good, robust program.” From motion detection and glass-break sensors to access control, camera systems, fencing, and lighting, layers must work together to create an optimal security program. Security Engineers provides customers with all the necessary layers to design a program tailored to their needs.

James, who recently celebrated his 25^th year with the company, highlights the quality of Security Engineers’ security officers as a key differentiator in today’s market. The company’s primary offering is its uniform security service guards, who are highly trained, well-paid, and possess both customer service and security expertise. These officers undergo extensive initial training and continuous updates as protocols evolve. “We want to make sure we are putting the best possible people and products out there to represent us and our customers in the best way possible,” Bottom says.

Security Engineers seeks long-term employees who will immerse themselves in the company culture and build enduring relationships with customers. The officers work in diverse fields, including medical, manufacturing, large distribution, finance and banking, hospitality, and large city center areas. Wherever there is a need for protection and monitoring, Security Engineers’ service guards provide top-notch service.

Bottom notes that security officers are often misunderstood due to negative media portrayals. Contrary to these stereotypes, the security industry is highly regulated, with businesses and workers accountable to regulatory boards. Most states require fingerprint background checks for security officer licenses, along with standard training classes.

Today’s security officers must meet strict training standards, including background checks, drug testing, and more, ensuring that Security Engineers’ personnel are top-tier. Marketing Manager Shelley Love adds that many officers have backgrounds in law enforcement, the military, or significant security industry experience. The company’s training is led by FBI-certified trainer Warren Powe, who ensures rigorous standards for all security officers. This thorough training process dispels outdated stereotypes of security guards as inept.

Although Security Engineers’ positions are contracted, Bottom stresses that each security officer must pass rigorous physical, behavioral, and mental screenings before carrying a weapon. The company’s training is so comprehensive that local police and SWAT departments regularly drill with the Security Engineers team, and the officers frequently earn top marks. Hiring at Security Engineers requires more than just an application; it demands a serious commitment to the company’s high standards.

As the need for security persists, Security Engineers continues to thrive. Bottom points out that in recent years, there has been a decline in law enforcement personnel across America, leading businesses to rely more on private security to ensure customer safety. In Birmingham, Alabama, for instance, the police department is short about 400 officers, prompting local businesses to increase private security measures. “We have individuals in the community starving for protection [who] are leaning on private and contract security to bridge that gap,” says Bottom. Security Engineers is ready to fill this gap.

Since its rebirth in 1993, Security Engineers has grown organically, thanks to its dedicated customer base. The company plans to continue its innovation through 2024 and beyond, offering services like drone detection, K9 services, MSUs, FSUs, remote monitoring, and Alarm.com products.

The team aims to enhance these offerings while maintaining its distinctiveness and improving quality. This commitment is evident in Security Engineers’ higher alert accuracy and continuous pursuit of advancements, such as integrating gunshot detection for schools and universities to aid in lockdown protocols.

Bottom asserts that the company’s mandate for growth while maintaining quality involves constantly pushing the envelope and asking, “What is the next layer of security that needs to go out there to the consumer?”

The post Disproving Stereotypes Through Excellence<p class="company">Security Engineers Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Part of the reason for this rate of failure is loss, which can add up quickly and will inevitably have a detrimental impact on the operation’s performance. A free pint here, an overpour there, mistakes and oversights can amount to thousands of dollars in losses that can threaten the viability of an operation long-term. Whether it is intentional or a mistake, humans are fallible, which is why partners like Sculpture Hospitality have developed a suite of services and supports that can help to mitigate these actions and their consequences.

“In this economy, every penny counts. With the price of inflation, it’s so much harder to keep the lights on and keep the doors open, but if you’ve got your product sliding out the back door, I would say, it makes it almost an impossible task and that’s where we come in,” explains Dennis Roberts, who has been a Sculpture Franchisee since September 2001, of the personalized touch he and his colleagues offer.

A unique value proposition
Sculpture Hospitality stands out by combining advanced technology with expert hands-on support. As Vanessa De Caria, President and CEO of Sculpture Hospitality, explains, “We are not a tech company that provides service; we are a service company that provides amazing technology.” This unique approach ensures that bar and restaurant owners not only get cutting-edge inventory management tools but also receive the expert guidance needed to implement and maximize these solutions effectively.

Under the leadership of Vanessa De Caria, Sculpture Hospitality has demonstrated the benefits of having a female leader at the helm. Women in leadership roles often bring diverse perspectives, foster inclusive work environments, and drive innovative thinking. Vanessa’s forward-thinking vision has been instrumental in the company’s continued success and global expansion.

As De Caria further elaborates, “We developed a software program over 30 years ago that was ahead of its time, especially when operators only used pen and paper to conduct inventory counts.” This continued forward-thinking foundation has led to widespread belief in the value of Sculpture Hospitality’s offerings, resulting in a global family of 300 franchisees in more than 30 countries.

The company’s easy-to-use software solutions integrate seamlessly with any resource management or point-of-sale system and are backed by unmatched 24/7 support—a fundamental principle of Sculpture Hospitality. With tools like the user-friendly food and beverage inventory management system and comprehensive analytics and reporting, businesses gain complete visibility into their operations. This combination of technology and hands-on support helps businesses save time, enhance ROI, and significantly boost profitability by optimizing inventory management processes.

A model to emulate
Across the globe, Sculpture Hospitality offers bars, restaurants, and hoteliers the support they need to understand their own operations by leveraging modern technology and a knowledgeable team to onboard and support them through the integration and analysis.

From De Caria’s perspective, “The franchisees are really well trained; they learn how to navigate the software and we provide ongoing training for them as we offer new products, new services. Most of our franchisees come from the Hospitality Industry and have a deep understanding of the challenges operators face like overpouring, questionable inventory counts that force them to spend too much time trouble shooting their month-end pour costs, and other financials. The entire inventory process is tedious. Outsourcing it to our teams allows them to use actionable data and improve their ordering. Our franchisees are industry people, and are continuously being trained and upgrading their learning to delivery continual upgrades to the platform.”

To remain competitive on the software side, Sculpture Hospitality continues to hone its offerings by listening to its vast customer base, evolving to better meet the specific needs of its clients through software updates, new apps, and data aggregation tools.

Though its genesis was in the management of alcohol inventories, which is typically a higher yield, Sculpture Hospitality has evolved to include food, which is a major opportunity given that it represents 80 percent of an establishment’s inventory management considerations.

With food comes a host of services and support that includes vendor analysis, price fluctuations, ordering, recipe and menu engineering, and other features that leverage the wealth of data collected to better understand clients’ needs as well as market trends that are taking place.

“It’s definitely a different tech landscape than it was 30 years ago; with new solutions constantly emerging, technology can become outdated quickly. This influx of tech-oriented solutions presents a challenge in our hospitality space, which has traditionally focused on personal service,” explains De Caria of a challenge that Sculpture Hospitality and its clients face.

Owner-operators are tasked with navigating the proliferation of software solutions that are available to them, and while the choices can be overwhelming, none of them offer the same level of support that is provided by Sculpture Hospitality.

Meeting clients where they are
Sculpture Hospitality offers three tiers of service for clients based on their needs—from self-guided offerings for the technologically astute client who can operate the software and facilitate inventories themselves, to comprehensive services that enable clients to take full advantage of the local support that is available to them with setup, training, database management, and analytics, ensuring there’s a custom service option to suit every need.

As leading pioneers in the space, De Caria believes, “We’re the only ones who have this footprint globally and that can tailor any solution to any need of the customer. Unlike other software solutions off the shelf, we take the time to truly listen and understand our customers’ pain points, allowing us to tailor solutions that make the most sense for their unique needs.”

Roberts heralds Sculpture Hospitality’s commitment to offering 24-hour technical support to ensure that regardless of when an issue arises, it will be addressed promptly and seamlessly. “We pride ourselves on being 100 percent accessible 100 percent of the time,” he says. “That’s the advantage of having so many boots on the ground so widespread around the globe; I think that’s what makes us really different from a lot of the competition.”

Despite growing around the world, the goal at Sculpture Hospitality remains the same: to continue to offer a technology solution that supports its clients in operating with optimal performance and profitability, informed by actionable data and compatibility for the digital age, supplemented by an unmatched consultative approach personalized to an operator’s needs.

“It’s just not in our DNA to be hands-off,” says De Caria. “What sets us apart is our ability to navigate the overwhelming array of tech choices while maintaining our cutting-edge capabilities. The challenge lies in ensuring we continue to showcase our innovative solutions without losing the personal touch that has distinguished us for many years.”

Proven results
In the age of data, Sculpture Hospitality is the competitive advantage that bars, restaurants, and hoteliers can rely on to help them make the right decisions based on actionable information. As De Caria notes, “What we provide are actionable data points that allow operators to better understand their business and make decisions on what to order, what products are moving well, what their price points are, and so much more.”

Sculpture Hospitality helped Saint John Ale House in New Brunswick reduce its pour cost by seven percent while increasing its profit margins by addressing its challenges, which included inefficient liquor inventory practices that had plagued the business for years. What further complicated this matter was that it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The management team conducted monthly inventories, which was a time-consuming process that was ineffective, wasting more time and money along the way. When Sculpture Hospitality came onboard in 2008, Saint John Ale House’s pour cost was an alarming 38 percent, which would have major implications for the company’s profit margins.

The same can be said about Malone’s Grill in Santa Cruz, California, an Irish pub founded in 1980 and later sold in 2016, when it was transformed into an award-winning American gastropub. But with success comes challenges and, in this case, managing inventory was the problem.

Once instituted, Sculpture Hospitality’s solutions led to a steady improvement in profit margins at Malone’s Grill through the reduction of waste and increased accountability. Stock shortages became a thing of the past, and the overall operation saw significant benefits from the structured approach and accountability that Sculpture Hospitality provides.

During the pandemic, times were tough, and Malone’s made the hard decision to work without Sculpture Hospitality’s services. During that time, the operation experienced a loss of $6,000 worth of alcohol, losses that Sculpture could have helped them avoid.

After reinstituting Sculpture Hospitality, Malone’s Grill went from a pour cost of 28 percent to 16 percent, which goes to show that its services truly are an investment that pays off. Its owners, Jennee and Taylor Fontana, are now Sculpture Franchisees themselves.

Jennee Fontana has said, “It’s a great program, so it was the obvious choice to purchase after we learned the franchisees in our area were selling their territory. When I am completing audits for clients week to week, I look at how much we charge and then compare that to how much they are still saving overall while working with us. The numbers prove that working with Sculpture is a no-brainer.”

The post People-Powered Inventory Management Solutions That Work<p class="company">Sculpture Hospitality</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Home to a plethora of natural beauty including mangrove forests, the Everglades National Park—a subtropical wilderness home to alligators, ibis, eagles, and manatees—the city is also close to the natural wonders of Biscayne Bay and its underwater national park, the Florida Keys, and the Atlantic Ocean. Most importantly, it’s a city that is determined to make positive changes while taking control of its future.

“You can call us truly, finally, the last frontier of growth and opportunity in deep south Miami-Dade County,” says Mayor Steve Losner. “We’ve always been a separate, distinct, and unique area with the pillars of our economy traditionally being agriculture and the Air Force Base, and more sparsely populated with more open spaces.”

Up until the devastation of Hurricane Andrew, Homestead was a self-sustaining community, he adds, with local businesses and all the amenities a community would need. “All that changed overnight.”

In August 1992, Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Andrew—the most devastating storm to have ever hit Florida—made direct landfall in the Dade County (now known as Miami-Dade County) communities of Homestead and Cutler Bay, destroying more than 63,500 homes and damaging over 124,000, resulting in $27.3 billion in damage (or $59 billion in 2023 dollars) and 65 fatalities.

“People don’t realize what a fundamentally transformative event a weather disaster can be for an area,” says Losner. “We lost a huge piece of our population. Local businesses didn’t return. When federal aid monies come in, there are a lot of strings attached. One of the biggest issues we faced was that subsidized high-density apartments were part of those strings, and that was something this community had never seen.”

It took a long time for Homestead to recover. In terms of large-scale housing development, the area wasn’t on anyone’s radar until the late 1990s/early 2000s. In retrospect, while the area had residential growth, it didn’t have the growth of amenities, resulting in a time lag with respect to commercial development, restaurants, retail, and all kinds of entertainment.

That’s now finally beginning to change. From 2007 through today, Homestead has grown from a community of 14,000 to more than 100,000, Losner says, with “big time” local and national investors beginning to realize that despite what the surface level statistics may say, the greater Homestead area is ripe for commercial development, with more dining and entertainment, retail, and other commercial options so residents don’t have to travel 30 minutes north or 45 minutes to an hour south down into the Keys.

“The offshoot of that is we’re positioned now to be able to pick and choose what we want more in terms of dictating architecture and layout and level of project, versus being the needy stepchild of the county,” Losner adds.

Homestead has a new perspective of not being an “anything goes” community, and has worked diligently toward creating architectural standards over the last four years. The city’s recent four-day charrette—an intense collaborative visioning session—resulted in the adoption of a range of styles while receiving guidance on making some basic adjustments that can impart a big difference in the appearance and livability of the community.

“It’s not just a revitalization of our downtown, but it’s really a revitalization and a revisioning as development goes forward for our entire community,” Losner says. “As we travel around communities throughout the southeast, for instance, we see they have appealing façades and different architecture.”

Homestead now wants to take the lead in these areas, realizing it, too, can make changes and not necessarily have the “plain vanilla box” stores any longer.

“I’m big on aesthetics—the look and feel of a community from a positive perspective,” Losner says. “When you arrive at Homestead, you know you’re in Homestead, and that can be accomplished through architecture, customized street signage, and not just the county standard issue. Different styles of street lighting can give clues to visitors that they’re somewhere different and not just in the urban sprawl of the Miami region.”

In fact, Homestead is now one of the few communities in Miami-Dade touting a true downtown. Some of the newer municipalities and even some of the older ones have never really had an identifiable traditional downtown, says Losner. “Most folks agree that can be a draw and is something that gives value, distinctiveness, and uniqueness to a community where you typically have Mom-and-Pop niche restaurants or stores, art galleries, and even entertainment amenities.”

To that end, the city is deploying a federal transportation administration grant of nearly $8 million to redo the streetscape in the area of its traditional downtown; to install vintage street lighting, street signs, and different surfaces; and to widen sidewalks and the public area to accommodate outdoor dining, entertainment, and sidewalk cafés.

“It’s been a multi-year process,” says Losner. “We’ve also recently acquired some significant commercial parcels in the downtown area and are now advertising them to attract users as tenants. We were finding our destiny was not in our own hands, that you still had folks who were buying and holding buildings and banking on further increases in values.”

But vacant storefronts don’t do anything for a downtown, he adds, so the city decided to make a $5 million investment in acquiring parcels to disperse that redevelopment and the immobilization of those properties. This is in addition to a multi-year rehabilitation of a downtown historic movie theater that’s now been converted to a performing arts venue while maintaining its historic façade. There’s also been a major expansion and renovation of a city park down—a traditional town square—where attendance at events has grown from several hundred to a few thousand.

“We have a holiday event with a traditional Tree Lighting Ceremony, photos with Santa, Military Appreciation Day events, and a Black History Month event there,” Losner says. There have also been concerts to bring people downtown and the building of a new police station which is considered a downtown landmark.

One of the issues that grew out of the charrette was to evolve a huge plaza that exists around the City Hall building into a more event-friendly area to create that synergy with a blossoming downtown.

“I think we all understand that residential density is an important component to having a thriving downtown and we’re trying to strike the balance between creating that and not removing the traditional charm and character of a small-town downtown,” says Losner. “We’ve also limited the height if someone wants to replace a building and increased the setbacks to allow for pedestrian traffic and entertainment use in the public way.”

Homestead’s future deployment of its federal transportation grant and its involvement with the charrette hopes to boost accessibility and walkability throughout the city and lay the foundation for a long-term evolution of its downtown and the city as a whole. “When you bring in outsiders as we did to facilitate the charrette urban planners, but also folks familiar with South Florida, it’s amazing how just a minor street realignment can create new public spaces and enhance walkability and accessibility,” Losner adds.

And creating new opportunities while taking control of its future is exactly what Homestead needs going forward. “We’re getting away from the ‘this is the way it’s always been,’ or ‘this is the way we’ve always done it,’ mentality and stepping back and getting the assistance of design experts who respect our past and our character that can give really meaningful and important advice on how to make things better.”

Being in control of its destiny is vital for a city that is looking to change perceptions. This has included not only the buying and holding of property, but also amending codes and architectural standards to enhance the downtown and dispense with permitted uses that may have been appropriate in the ’60s and ’70s but are no longer relevant, Losner explains.

Reaching out not only to planning and design professionals, but also inviting the entire community—anyone who wanted to come and put in their two cents about what they want to be and what they want to see—was imperative to creating a vibrant and livable environment. “This wasn’t just planning and mandating from above; this was true community participation,” he adds. “It was something envisioned probably early last year as we began to realize we needed to get a handle on things that were going on. It’s just something for our community that needed to be done.”

As designers carry on planning and helping design changes for the future of Homestead, presentations and collaborations will continue to take place on how to best lay the city’s foundation for the years to come.

“We’re finally at the point of maturity,” Losner says. “Hurricane Andrew is in the rearview mirror, and we don’t want to be identified by that any longer. We’re taking charge of what our community is going to be and look like, rather than the development community—and that’s not being antagonistic. It’s about being a more equal partnership between representing our residents and accommodating good development proposals.”

The post The Heart of Homestead: Looking Forward with Hope<p class="company">City of Homestead, Florida</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“Our differentiator in this market is subtle and nuanced, and focused on our people and the way that we think and the way we question our clients,” says Brooks. “We have a very small sales team and we have a very large production management team relative to that sales team,” he shares.

Bespoke owns a vast inventory of audio and lighting equipment, computer and webcasting gear, video cameras, projectors, microphones, editing systems, and assorted components and electronics for live event staging purposes. The firm also operates a studio and offers technical support for clients who want to make videos or do other creative work.

Roughly half of the company’s customer base consists of corporate clients, including major firms such as Scotiabank and Rogers. These businesses hire Bespoke to stage “annual general meetings, town halls, investor meetings… These events can range significantly in size and scope. After that, about a third of our work is what we identify as third-party—a planner or producer calls us for equipment for their event. The remaining portion of our business falls into things like education, government, and not-for-profit associations,” says Brooks.

The company strives to foster a close relationship with all its clients. New customers typically deal with a salesperson first but are then “immediately handed to one of our production managers” whose job is “to follow an idea from beginning to end,” he explains. The production manager is tasked with determining the client’s goals and needs; as Brooks says, “a big focus for us is trying to figure out what’s important to our clients.” The production manager thus works with a team of project managers, project coordinators, and content creators to bring the client’s vision to fruition, while the production team develops floor plans and technical drawings, and coordinates with trades and other companies.

Professional as Bespoke might be, the company is far from rigid, and tries to make the production management process as fluid as possible.

“When we show up to the first conversation [with the client], we’re not showing up with a finished idea. We talk, we uncover, we go away, we design, we come back, we test it, we prototype it… We try to earn a lot of trust with our clients, where we can have open and candid conversations,” explains Brooks.

When it comes to smaller events, the company might only have a few days notice to prepare. Bigger events, by contract, can entail months of planning and preparation.

Once a live event has concluded, Bespoke hosts two debriefings. One debriefing session is held with the client while a second debriefing involves the project team and sales staff. The goal for both is to determine what worked, what didn’t work, and what could be improved. Most importantly, did the client feel their goals were achieved?

Over the years, Bespoke has staged several prominent live events across Canada and the United States, and the Bespoke website highlights photographs and case studies of some of these events. These range from glitzy celebrations such as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Tribute Gala, held in Toronto September 2022, to more staid corporate affairs such as a Manulife National Sales Meeting held in early 2023, also in Toronto.

Last year, Bespoke handled “the whole production… including all the broadcast cameras” for Canada’s Walk of Fame 25^th anniversary bash. The event, which was televised, featured appearances by the likes of Avril Lavigne, Dan Aykroyd, and former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

Brooks tells us that Bespoke is currently preparing for Collision, a huge Toronto tech conference taking place this June, and is gearing up for some potential projects with politicians. “For future work, I could hypothesize: there’s going to be a provincial election [in Ontario] and there’s going to be a federal election. We will likely work on those,” he reveals.

Indeed, Bespoke has worked on election campaigns for various major Canadian political parties. Currently, the company is solely focused on the Liberal Party, federally and in Ontario—not due to any political affinity but simply how things panned out. Bespoke as an organization is avowedly apolitical, stresses Brooks.

Most of the company’s work is far from glamorous or prominent, he says. Out of the hundreds of events staged by the company each year, maybe 50 would qualify as high-profile. But regardless of size or scale, all projects are important to this team.

Bespoke’s studio operations became popular during the COVID pandemic, when in-person events were often cancelled in favour of online activities. The studio Bespoke uses includes a large video wall, professional-grade cameras, and skilled technical staff. This proved a winning combination for organizations looking to make virtual meetings and other remote events more engaging and professional during the pandemic.

When COVID receded and in-person corporate meetings resumed, Bespoke’s studio business trailed off. At present, studio-based work brings in about 10 percent of company revenue, with live event staging accounting for the rest.

Brooks wants to grow the company’s studio-based virtual business, as he calls it. As a way of doing this, Bespoke has embraced motion-tracking 3D visualization software. Using a computerized camera setup, 3D motion-tracking software creates highly realistic virtual backgrounds. While motion-tracking 3D software is already being utilized in science fiction TV shows and movies, Bespoke was unique in making it available for its clients.

“Imagine a bank CEO who wants to do a training video in a bank branch but doesn’t want to take a bank branch offline for a couple days. They can come in to [our] studio and shoot in photorealistic environments,” says Brooks.

Motion-tracking 3D software isn’t the only high-tech tool employed by Bespoke. The firm is proud of its pioneering use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, for example. RFID isn’t new, “but it’s unique to our industry,” states Brooks. Every piece of equipment in the Bespoke warehouse has been fitted with a radio tag so it can be easily identified and tracked down. Using a scanner, Bespoke technicians can quickly locate any items in storage.

While Bespoke is a relatively young firm, it has a somewhat “complicated” history, admits Brooks. Back in 2010, his current business partner, Mike Wilson, started a production agency. Three years later, Bespoke began staging events. In 2015, the two firms merged to become Bespoke Audio Visual. Today, Wilson serves as Bespoke’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and oversees the operational and financial sides of the business.

“Just under 70” people work full-time at Bespoke, says Brooks. Full-time staff look after the company’s office, studio, and warehouse space, and do design and production management work among other duties. Another team of roughly 150 part-time staff handle on-site technical work during the staging of events.

While some positions at Bespoke require a very specific skill set or technical knowledge, in general, “we hire for attitude over aptitude… We have three core values: curiosity, transparency, and community. You need to essentially embody those three values in order to work here,” states Brooks.

One final aspect of the Bespoke culture: “We have a lot of fun here. We have a dog culture in our office,” notes Brooks, whose dog—a three-year-old Goldendoodle named Winston—snoozed peacefully on the floor throughout his master’s video interview.

Asked to cite the biggest challenge facing the company, Brooks mentions two separate issues. Business-wise, cash flow, capital, and financial management are all challenges, he says. When it comes to the operational side of things, “the acquisition of talent” is a separate challenge. “Skilled labour in this workforce coming out of COVID was absolutely decimated,” he notes.

Despite these tribulations, Brooks wants to expand the firm’s geographic reach. Bespoke currently shares clients, projects, and staff with a special event audio visual rental firm called Proshow, which has offices in Vancouver and Calgary. Thanks to this partnership, Bespoke has established a presence in Western Canada, so the company has now cast its gaze toward Quebec and the Maritimes. There aren’t any plans to build brick and mortar locations in Eastern Canada, however; Brooks would prefer to expand through strategic acquisitions.

“Five years from now, I hope to have made [some] acquisitions… I hope to have a footprint in Eastern Canada, and I hope to be closer to creating a truly national, Canadian-owned AV company.”

The post Toronto Firm Stages Live Events and Offers Cutting-Edge Studio Services<p class="company">Bespoke Audio Visual</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

That is why those in need of an asset-based industry expert with a backbone of steel have learned to trust Pro-Formance Intermodal, Inc. for cool, calm, and collected leadership that gets the job done to exacting standards.

Coupled with delivering the best customer service at competitive rates from numerous footprints in Alberta and beyond, the company’s winning formula has secured its beginnings and set it up for new and long-term success.

Bringing calm to chaos
For many in the scientific world, the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil may cause a tornado in Texas is just another entertaining suggestion from ‘chaos theory’. However, in intermodal transportation, the Butterfly Effect is a daily reality, albeit related more to political and economic events and natural disasters. That is because when there are labour issues anywhere—a threat of strike action in the Philippines, for example—logistics networks across the globe can be impacted substantively.

Therefore, for global players moving goods across borders, having a logistics team onboard with everything it takes to keep freight moving despite a perceptible intrusion of chaos is crucial to longevity, profitability, and the prospects of customers awaiting their freight further along the distribution chain. “When we say we’re outperforming our competitors, we are actually not joking,” says the Chief Financial Officer of Pro-Formance Intermodal.

Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Pro-Formance Intermodal has all those capabilities and many more, including the expertise to move firearms, liquor, and everything in between. The team is fully equipped to move most types of freight through any number of countries. To this end, of course, the company holds the necessary certifications, including that of Alberta Games Liquor Cannabis (AGLC). And its facility footprint is as generous as its list of capabilities.

With terminals complete with storage yards in Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg, other storage yards are located in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Vancouver. Its office in the United States is in Chicago. All its facility locations make strategic sense in easing the logistics process for customers as far afield as possible. The Glenmore Trail facility covers nearly 40 acres with easy access to CP and CN railways.

With a warehouse footprint of well over 40,000 square feet, the company’s well-stocked fleet includes heavy-duty equipment like cranes and a sophisticated workflow design. Alongside this Calgary facility, its 35-acre Edmonton location in the Winterburn Industrial area features a warehouse of around 130,000 square feet. As well as quick access to the two chief rail providers, main arteries like Anthony Henday Drive and Highway 16A are nearby.

Finding the answer
At Pro-Formance Intermodal, finding solutions is second nature. For this highly creative team, there’s always a solution—it just needs to be identified. Both its diverse staff and its range of divisions add to the company’s agility and creativity, and customizing offers and giving clients choices whenever possible is a key offering of every one of the Pro-Formance divisions.

“Innovation is huge here; we never say no. Economic times don’t decide where our equipment goes—we do,” says the General Manager. “If there are shortages of equipment or if there are restrictions, those do not apply to us,” he adds. Pragmatic determination leads the way, and that’s why customers flock here.

Signing up for its services is a straightforward but precise and thorough process. Onsite, offsite, and online meetings enable the team to ascertain exactly what a client needs and strategize the logistics arrangements before instituting the procedures of client approval, account setup, and finalizing documentation.

In addition, PortPro, a new TMS—Transportation Management Software system—is revolutionizing how the firm handles the logistics of drayage, or shipping containers by road between storage and ports and final destinations. This software system is further supported by another two systems, Blackberry for equipment tracking and Motive for truck tracking.

A team approach
Pro-Formance’s close-knit team of nearly 400 supports the company in running like a well-oiled machine. “I like my team because they’re family. We treat everyone equally,” the CFO says of the company’s open-door policy and the need to build a personal connection amongst team members. This sense of family has become a part of Pro-Formance’s legacy.

Indeed, the company’s history is one of tenacity and gumption. The owners have led the company to where it is today alongside their sterling team. Today, the company’s commitment to continuous evolution is perhaps most evident in the size of its modern fleet, which numbers around 400 intermodal containers, over 300 trailers, and more than 700 transportation truck chassis plus over 200 tractor trucks, the acquisition of which was no mean feat.

Whatever the cargo and its shipping requirements, this team ensures that goods arrive as they should—in top condition. The impressive list of services even includes the company’s own driving school where students are educated in basic supply chain knowledge, road and equipment safety, and optimal driving skills and best practices, with the use of a 3D simulator.

Beyond offering third-party logistics brokerage, over-the-road transportation across North America is complemented by intermodal transportation. This can be combined with rail transportation, global freight forwarding, and drayage. Pro-Formance also supplies a host of state-of-the-art warehousing services and pre-trip inspections on refrigerated trucks (reefers) carrying perishables.

The company is also well-versed in NAFTA shipping. Working within the parameters of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been in effect since 1992, it navigates the special trade conditions that exist between the United States, Canada, and Mexico on door-to-door shipments, easing the process for customers.

At home in the world
With its extensive experience in moving cargo across the world, dealing with the complexities that arise when goods pass customs at border control is just one more reason customers prefer having a Pro-Formance agent on their side rather than trying to handle such matters themselves.

A Canada Customs bonded facility alongside certified bonded container yards rounds out Pro-Formance’s service offering. These facilities provide container storage, sales, and leasing in 10, 20, and 40-foot containers. These are aimed at providing great value, with the company ensuring that the price and quality of these tightly sealed units are competitive, with clear and straightforward upfront agreements for temporary storage and reasonable ownership options as an alternative.

Finally, customers also benefit from container surveys certified by the Institute of International Container Lessors (IICL) as well as daily activity and inventory reports from Pro-Formance’s 24-hour camera-guarded facilities.

To ensure that it delivers the best service possible, Pro-Formance is well connected internationally, with relationships that reach beyond those it builds with customers. The company maintains professional ties with prestigious associations like the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA); National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc. (NMFTA); Port of Vancouver; Partners in Protection (PIP), and others.

The company is also active in meeting a constant stream of potential customers and team members. One way in which it achieves this is by attending events like the recent Big Rig Truck Expo and Recruiting Fair that took place in June at the McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The team is also deeply committed to giving back to its local communities.

A clear vision
After 15 years of outperforming its competitors, the company’s team has honed its craft to a fine art. The outcome is an integrated staff with a clear sixth sense of how their colleagues think and feel, leading to swift, precise problem-solving within this sphere of high-pressure transportation. Add to that management’s commitment to delivering real-time excellence and it quickly becomes clear how this logistics leader has come so far in a single decade.

Now at the threshold of its sixteenth year, Pro-Formance Intermodal anticipates continued evolution and growth. Staying the course and pursuing its vision, this company has made a significant mark on the economic landscape both in Canada and further afield. We look forward to following its upward trajectory over the years to come.

The post Transforming Transportation<p class="company">Pro-Formance Intermodal, Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

From iron-based metals like automotive castings and structural steel to non-iron-based metals like aluminum siding, copper wiring, and stainless steel, All American Recycling leads with integrity, transparency, and a personal touch. The company has staff on standby to advise customers on their next step, whether that is confirming whether it accepts a specific type of metal or taking care of household appliances that have reached the end of their life cycle.

All American Recycling’s range of services includes providing equipment like roll off boxes, open top gondolas, luggers, pallet boxes, can trailers, hoppers, and more for scrap removal. The company also offers live loading, material pick-ups and drop-offs, and scrapping of rail cars. In addition, it handles tear-down on demolition jobs as well as onsite demolition processing on projects of any size. At the end of the day, the priority is preventing as much waste as possible from entering landfill.

With four convenient locations in the Chicagoland area, the company is equipped with everything a customer could need, right down to an extensive trucking fleet. As such, All American Recycling is known for keeping its project schedules tightly controlled, giving its customers and its drivers peace of mind in knowing that no time is ever wasted. It also means that the company is entirely self-sufficient, giving it full leverage in optimally scheduling its customers’ collections.

Convenience is one of the company’s main aims, and as such, it serves the southern end of Chicago from its Ford Heights facility while the Western suburbs of Chicago and Fox Valley are served from its Aurora facility. Two other footprints include its business-to-business (B2B) outfit in Chicago, and the Joliet team that takes care of the southwest Chicago townships of New Lenox, Tinley Park, and Lockport. By ensuring that the business owners and households of these areas have an expert voice to assist them in correctly disposing of metals, the company is doing much more than just its day job. It provides an essential service that helps these communities regulate their waste in ways that are good for the planet and local businesses.

“It’s about bringing value to items that most people discard, plus eliminating the need to go to landfill or waste facilities,” says Tom Bochenek, Operations Manager, of the team’s approach to the environmentally sustainable reuse of waste products. By turning what would otherwise be considered building rubble into new buildings and dwellings, or using it for entirely different purposes, this company is being the change it wants to see in the world.

Opening its doors in 2011 with a team of five and one facility, growth reflects All American Recycling’s commitment to continuous evolution. By ensuring that its values align with those of its customers, the company builds healthy business exchanges with partners who value its genuine can-do approach. Its affiliation with some of the country’s top recycling associations—the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), the National Demolition Association, and others—reflects that commitment as well.

Indeed, the company goes all out to guide its customers, particularly on how they can add value to their metal waste. Prioritizing clear communication and premium customer care means that customers are always kept in the loop. In the process, All American Recycling is changing attitudes by changing how others see and treat valuable resources that would otherwise be pushed back into the endless pollution loop.

The company’s logistics division is also pivotal to its success. Once customers are fully informed of the transportation options and costs, as well as what the future holds for their waste materials, metals are removed, processed into smaller chunks and chips, and delivered to steel mills where the materials are reduced into smaller, reusable volumes. No matter the original size of a load, this team can shift waste to facilities where materials are recycled without any hassle to customers.

Staying ahead of the competition also means staying up to date with technology. As such, All American Recycling recently invested in a sought-after new metal processing machine, the MTB Cable Box. “For non-ferrous metals like copper, we have a state-of-the-art wire chopper at our Joliet facility. There are probably only a handful of these machines in all of North America,” says Patrick Lamorte, Operations Manager. The new machine significantly improves the company’s wire reduction capabilities, allowing it to get larger quantities of copper to the mills faster, more efficiently, and at a better price.

All American Recycling also installed a stationary electric shear cutter that gives it another competitive edge in improving output volumes, price, and efficiency. As the machine runs on electricity rather than fossil fuels, it is also more environmentally friendly than outdated models. “We have big facilities with heavy processing equipment that allows you to bring in the volumes that you need to,” says Bochenek.

Another similar machine compresses metals. By keeping up with the latest available technology, All American Recycling facilities handle niche metals like rebar and other hard-to-process metals better than many other, more traditional, outfits. It also processes such tough materials faster and more cost-effectively than firms that take the long route. Here, growth is as much about improving systems as it is about expansion, which means stretching itself and its capabilities.

On occasion, the team engages in demolition projects of its own. One such recent project was on a complex demolition site at a manufacturing facility set in an urban area in Frankfort, Illinois. Working in an area surrounded by homes was a challenge the team overcame through prudent risk management and vigilance. The outcome was successful, and today the project stands out as an accomplishment that reflects All American Recycling’s skill, organizational capabilities, and attention to detail.

The company takes equally good care of its people, and its roster of long-tenured staff is proof of that. With a tradition of promoting in-house, this team knows when they join that hard work with a goal in mind gets them where they want to go. And, because those in management largely started from the bottom, they are in touch with people’s experience in the field.

At All American Recycling, mutual respect trumps outdated hierarchies. Management prides themselves on their open-door policy because they know how hard their team works; that is just one small way in which they can say thank you in return. “We have more of a family here than employees,” says Bochenek. “What I like most about our employees is that they use the tools we provide them with to succeed. They build themselves.”

As with so many industries, the future of metal recycling resides in the evolution of technology. As processing and melting capabilities improve, testing and training also improve at All American Recycling. With growing transparency and knowledge sharing between scrap metal yards and their milling partners, customers stand to benefit tremendously in terms of efficiency.

By pushing toward a cleaner and safer future for the recycling industry, engineers continuously develop new ways of doing that better and faster. Therefore, with the timelines of possibility becoming increasingly reduced, new and previously unfathomable options are fast becoming the norm in this line of business, which is good news for those who work in the industry but also for companies in need of a fast-evolving recycling specialist that delivers a premium service.

As Chicagoland’s most rapidly expanding recycling firm, offering competitive prices, All American Recycling is on its way up in the best sense possible.

The post Recycling Excellence<p class="company">All American Recycling</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.