In response to the evolving needs of the construction sector, A-LINX has emerged as a proactive player, leveraging cutting-edge advancements in prefabricated light-gauge steel construction. This innovative approach revolutionizes every stage of the building process, effectively mitigating risks, reducing costs, shortening timelines, and optimizing material usage.

A-LINX’s offerings encompass customizable components, available in both standard and made-to-order configurations. Moreover, the availability of pre-finished panels in diverse building material finishes affords clients unparalleled flexibility in design, catering precisely to their unique requirements and preferences.

Despite its relative novelty, A-LINX derives substantial strength and expertise from seasoned professionals with extensive backgrounds in various construction-related disciplines. This wealth of experience has been instrumental in driving the company’s consistent annual growth trajectory.

“Our company is roughly six years old and, following a positive leap in year two, has seen a consistent revenue growth of roughly 10 to 15 percent year over year,” says General Manager, Matthew Pellitteri.

Navigating growth poses challenges amidst evolving dynamics in construction techniques and a demographic shift within the industry. “It’s a fairly stagnant industry in terms of innovation and growth compared to others,” says Pellitteri. “If looked at in a vacuum, there’s been innovation and growth within the industry in several ways. But in comparison to industries like automotive or even agriculture, it’s relatively slow moving.”

The changing demographics underscore a stark reality: for every 10 individuals retiring from the industry, only two return. This imbalance in resources necessitates the exploration of innovative approaches to project execution.

Furthermore, many projects present unique challenges, ranging from spatial constraints to speed, traffic requirements, logistical considerations, and evolving architectural designs. These factors contribute to a constantly changing construction environment where each project presents its own set of complexities and requirements.

“You have to be creative in the way that you do it, and that’s why we started this business,” Pellitteri says. “It was more or less through work we had for our own developments, and we found this type of building typology with steel prefabrication was a great solution to expedite schedules, control costs, and develop the designs to a place where many of the questions have been answered and not discovered on a job site.”

Despite initially focusing on the company’s own developments and properties, A-LINX recognized a growing market demand for its technology. Consequently, the company ventured into the broader market, successfully catering to a diverse clientele. A-LINX’s solutions have been instrumental in the construction of various structures, including condos, retirement residences, apartments, long-term care facilities, and industrial spaces.

“The reason we do this job and construction technique is to provide a quality product that’s factory-controlled, that will expedite construction schedules and will relieve the need for such heavy labour on a job site,” Pellitteri explains.

Addressing the labor shortage, particularly in skilled trades, has posed significant challenges. To tackle this issue, A-LINX collaborates closely with local colleges, actively engaging with their engineering, construction, and welding programs. Additionally, the company maintains a presence on various boards and committees dedicated to studying the evolving dynamics within the construction industry.

“A lot of work being done now is being migrated into a facility, and what’s happening in colleges—more than universities, where you would generally see civil engineers and industrial engineers—is that these college graduates have direct core competencies in up-to-date technologies like Revit,” says Pellitteri.

The office resources at A-LINX predominantly consist of college graduates who possess a strong understanding of contemporary programs and construction techniques. This knowledge base allows the company to effectively leverage and implement up-to-date methodologies in its manufacturing processes.

“That’s really what we do,” Pellitteri says. “We take a building and set it into pieces so we can understand how to effectively build it in a plant setting where we control all of the safety facets of a workstation or setup, the type of materials we’re using, and how we procure those materials.”

Steel stands as the primary commodity utilized by A-LINX, capitalizing on its versatility to roll and shape it directly to size with remarkable precision and minimal waste, often less than one percent. Through strategic collaboration with suppliers, the company ensures the procurement of materials tailored to the unique requirements of each project, effectively managing costs. Additionally, meticulous monitoring of daily output enables A-LINX to control both internal and project labor costs, further optimizing efficiency and resource utilization.

Pellitteri emphasizes that A-LINX’s approach prioritizes early resolution of constructability and other critical issues at the onset of a project. Unlike conventional practices where details like window or door opening sizes and mechanical penetrations are often addressed later on-site, A-LINX addresses these aspects during the initial stages of design. This proactive approach is essential as the company constructs the building’s structure within its facility before installation on-site. As such, consultants, owners, and general contractors must collaborate closely to resolve these issues early, enabling A-LINX to fully capitalize on the benefits of prefabricated construction.

A-LINX, born under the umbrella of its parent company, Amico Affiliates’ design-build division, has established a stellar reputation for constructing load-bearing and non-load-bearing wall panels using cold-form steel. These panels play a pivotal role in supporting the overall structure of a diverse range of buildings, spanning from multi-level townhomes to towering 12-storey hotels and condominiums.

“We build these panels that support the structure inside our facility, and we clad it as an option for a client with a number of different finishes on the exterior,” says Pellitteri. This can be metal siding, stucco, or faux brick. The team installs windows and patio doors before delivery to the job site.

Once on-site, the panels are installed to support the floor system, typically consisting of concrete precast, open web steel joists, or cold-form steel. This integration occurs seamlessly as the building progresses, ensuring structural integrity and stability throughout the construction process.

“For us, it’s very important to work with structural engineers, architects, and MEP companies to design these walls in a factory setting so when they’re ready to go on site, they’re completely coordinated. Generally, if done correctly, there are 15 to 20 percent schedule-savings on the job site.”

In addition to cost savings, A-LINX prioritizes sustainability by efficiently managing material waste. Moreover, from an environmental standpoint, the longevity of steel buildings offers significant advantages compared to wood, a common competitor for structures up to a certain number of storeys. Steel’s durability ensures prolonged structural integrity, reducing the need for frequent replacements and minimizing environmental impact over the building’s lifecycle.

A-LINX adopts an alternative building models mindset, offering diverse variations of townhome designs that fill the niche often referred to as the “missing middle.” While other companies primarily focus on constructing single-family homes and condominiums, A-LINX recognizes a growing demographic seeking options between these two extremes.

Matthew Pellitteri observes a significant rise in individuals who fall within this middle ground. They are not inclined toward purchasing a condominium, yet lack the financial resources to invest in a standalone home. Additionally, their lifestyle preferences or work location may not align with traditional housing options. A-LINX addresses this demand by providing townhome designs tailored to meet the unique needs of this demographic.

“There’s a huge shortage of housing in Canada—in Ontario, specifically—so finding a proper structure or home for somebody to live in is very important. Household accommodations are very important, and so alternative building models, from stacked townhomes to condominiums and apartments to ADUs—accessory dwelling units—these are the choices we work within.”

The company has a great handle on attainable housing, Pellitteri notes. “There’s a need for attainable housing, obviously, and that can be a 12-storey building or a complex luxury condominium in a major metropolitan area. That’s the span of projects we’ve put together with complexity and design.”

Pellitteri emphasizes the opportunities that exist if governments can expedite the permitting process through establishing standardized guidelines. These measures are crucial to facilitate the adoption of prefabricated solutions, enabling swift and efficient execution of construction projects. By streamlining regulatory procedures and ensuring consistency in guidelines, the government can create an enabling environment for the widespread adoption of prefabricated construction methods, ultimately addressing the pressing housing shortage more effectively.

“Realistically, we have to get people into homes, and we want to provide them a home that meets a range of desires,” he says. “There are opportunities to build as such, but if certain guidelines can be provided, then that will translate into a number of buildings, units, and homes where you can have economies of scale—where you can design, procure, and save on construction costs.”

Housing prices are prohibitive across the country, and according to CMHC’s Ontario Housing Market Report, the province’s average home sale price is $423,128 CAD.

“Providing attainable living for a range of different individuals and families is important. And that’s really where a lot of that missing middle is,” Pellitteri says. “For us, attainable housing is huge, and it’s needed.”

As a result of its commitment to addressing diverse housing needs, A-LINX actively develops solutions for the segment seeking more affordable housing options. However, the team also continues to undertake projects in the luxury condominium sector, retirement residences, and long-term care facilities. A-LINX prides itself on effectively delivering quality outcomes across all these sectors, showcasing its versatility and expertise in catering to a wide range of housing requirements.

“What sets us apart from other companies is our vertical integration. Along with our parent company Amico Affiliates, we can self-perform complete projects, whereas other panelizers are only a small part of an overall project.”

Through that vertical integration, from design to civil work, building structure to finishings, Amico can check all those boxes, says Pellitteri. “That’s what truly sets us apart from others—that we add peace of mind and convenience to any general contractor or developer that’s interested in working with us.”

The post Lighter, Stronger, Quicker – A Winning Approach to the Housing Shortage<p class="company">A-LINX Building Technologies</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Back in 2012, the company launched its flagship program, innoviCares®. To date, the free innoviCares card has helped over two million Canadian residents save on select name-brand prescription medications at pharmacies. Today, STI is much more than innoviCares, and supports over 200 programs and hundreds of brands.

Working with pharma
When innoviCares was created, many pharmaceutical products were losing their exclusivity. This saw the emergence of lower cost alternatives come to market. innoviCares offered patients the choice to stay on the brand name product by removing financial barriers. Since then, there has been a shift in the market to specialty molecules and high-cost complex therapies, which typically go hand-in-hand with patient support programs, supported by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

This saw STI leverage its core DNA—which is in financial assistance—to shift from co-pay programs into patient support programs. “We’ve been pivoting for the last seven years into more of this space,” says Kimberley Cody, Director of Offerings and Marketing.

“We are still maintaining our co-pay business and innoviCares, but we are leveraging our differentiators to edge our space into patient support programs in the market,” she says.

Continually innovating since the company was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001, STI has become a leader in the Canadian market for digital and tech-enabled patient support programs. That includes building its own patient management platform integrated with its financial reimbursement engine.

This means STI can automatically enrol patients, leverage algorithms, and perform back-end calculations to allocate financial benefits to patients based on what they qualify for, which impacts their reimbursement program card in near real-time. Patients can be better managed, and program efficacy can be demonstrated to pharmaceutical managers.

“It’s leaning more into ‘how do we leverage tech and data to make smarter decisions, and to optimize our workforce?’” Cody explains. Existing patient support programs lean heavily on caseworkers, which can be costly to pharmaceutical companies, along with having to support the financials of a drug. Since these are big-ticket items for pharmaceutical manufacturers to support, STI is innovating how best to engage and provide streamlined solutions.

Creating awareness
Often, patients don’t know where to go for help, and STI has tools to create awareness of specific programs. The company works with pharmaceutical manufacturers who value their patients and want them to get—and stay—on therapies while providing personalized services. This includes running and sponsoring programs for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers create awareness about their programs through representatives who visit physicians and pharmacies and communicate to eligible patients about the programs they may be eligible for. To help create awareness, STI has a suite of marketing, production, and logistics offerings, aimed to most effectively communicate with physicians, clinics and pharmacies.

“We use our program materials and the channels we have perfected over the years to enable education about programs, and we run training sessions with reps,” says Cody. At the consumer level, this includes leveraging technology to create greater awareness for patients, from videos to innovative promotional materials.

During the height of COVID-19, pharmaceutical companies had concerns about their patients, many of them experiencing reduced wages or job loss, which caused issues with drug affordability. Understanding the concerns, STI quickly brought to market compassionate support program whereby pharma could engage with solutions and help bridge patients until they were more financially secure, providing continuity of medication over the pandemic and helping alleviate financial burden so patients could get the health care they needed.

Going digital
COVID-19 also helped speed up the use of digital materials and solutions. “It was a good primer for us because we were already down this digital enablement route,” says Cody. When COVID happened, STI turned to its patient and client base, asking how the company could support them during that difficult time. This saw more digital solutions and a reimbursement engine agile enough to set up programs that could help different user-case scenarios.

Soon, STI came to the market with several offerings that addressed some key issues. This included pharmaceutical representatives, who weren’t able to visit physicians in person anymore yet still needed to get program information out there about products and available services to keep patients on therapy. STI created a solution: bringing a digital representative offering to the market. Printed materials were digitized so pharmaceutical company reps could have virtual calls with physicians and send doctors digital cards for distribution to patients when they visited.

This not only helped reps meet their mandates but kept patients on therapy through program financial assistance.

pharmacyCares™: pharmacy-led patient support program
One recent brand STI is bringing to market is pharmacyCares (smartsti.com/pharmacycares), which enables patient support program (PSP) services to be delivered by community pharmacists. Traditional PSP models leverage specialty pharmacy networks, but the innovative pharmacyCares concept is patient-centric. Through STI and its partners, patients can go to pharmacies closer to where they live for easier accessibility.

“We’re trying to mitigate, as much as possible, re-directing patients on what could be a disruptive trip to a specialty network and bringing them back to the community they live in and their community pharmacy as well,” says Cody.

A unique model, the pharmacyCares platform is supported by STI’s back-end tech and data. The goal is to take pharmacyCares nationally. “Again, it’s about shifting into patient support programs, and it’s about making the patient’s experience more accessible, more personalized, more aligned with their needs, and giving equal access to maintain patients within their community at their community pharmacy,” says Cody.

Much of STI’s strength comes from its team, which includes tech developers who enable the company’s internal platform and systems; reimbursement specialists who support the adjudication of programs; and front-line caseworkers who engage with patients and help support them, together with sales, marketing, graphic designers, data analysts, and data scientists, who all work in consultation with clients to deliver the most effective, patient-centric programs to market.

On a mission
In the future, STI Technologies will continue its mission of becoming the number one tech- and data-enabled PSP provider in Canada.

“There are so many innovative solutions out there,” says Cody, referring to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence Machine learning (AIML) and what it means for patient support program optimization; the complexity of the reimbursement landscape; streamlining processes; and delivering more personalized patient journeys in a way that’s agile and not a ‘one-size-fits-all.’

“How do we leverage our pharmacyCares network to collect real-world data and evidence that we can use to help support patients on therapy, get them covered financially, and make a meaningful impact on our clients as they’re growing and investing in their products?” Cody asks.

She believes that “the future for STI will be a continued investment in patient support programs, but really pushing the envelope on what that means in Canada. It means changing the lens of what it has been and ramping up those innovations so our patients can benefit.”

The post Improving Access to Health, Improving Lives<p class="company">STI Technologies Limited</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

In business for 38 years, Collicutt started in the gas industry with gas compression maintenance as its mainstay, and continues to operate with the same philosophy it has held since its founding as an engine company in 1986. The company services and packages engines of all makes, models, and industries, and offers everything from inspections to zero hour rebuilds. Whether it’s rebuilding compressors, generators, pumps, and transmissions or servicing engines, Collicutt provides clients with valuable solutions.

While being a long-time family-run company is one of the keys to the company’s ongoing success, the leadership also cites numerous other reasons. “We treat our employees like family, we’re very agile, and we’re able to make decisions fast, because we have a fairly flat management structure,” says David Taylor, Vice President of U.S. Operations.

“We don’t report to a public company,” adds Ryan Krutzfeldt, Vice President of Operations. “The owner is very entrepreneurial, so if the decision is we want to invest in this or do that or buy this tool, as long as it makes sense, there’s no red tape or bureaucracy to have to go through a whole bunch of steps. It makes us faster and better.”

One of Collicutt’s core values is also soundly reflected in the company’s work ethic, he says. “Steven Collicutt started this company from nothing, is still running it, and has a passion to do so. We’re always looking for better and more innovative ways of doing things.”

Being faster, better, and more innovative includes embracing practices such as fuel blending that help contribute to a more sustainable future, with one major advantage being the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas is a renewable energy source that is carbon neutral and is produced through the breakdown of organic materials. Blending biogas with fossil fuels like natural gas lowers the fuel’s total carbon impact, an extremely beneficial quality for businesses looking to reduce their environmental effect and meet sustainability targets.

Biogas, which is what Collicutt typically blends with natural gas, is a natural by-product of composting and decomposing waste. Generally speaking, if not handled properly, the gas from the composting ends up in the atmosphere.

“By capturing the methane gas—which is the worst GHG emission in there—it prevents that from going into the atmosphere and contributing to those emissions,” says Taylor. “If you look at it as a whole, in many jurisdictions this biogas is considered carbon neutral, so you can take that then and blend it with natural gas to reduce the carbon footprint of any facility. It not only helps you from that perspective, but it also helps the environment because it’s not being vented.”

Blending also results in better engine performance, he adds. If you use only biogas, it’s not necessarily the best or most efficient gas for a high-performance engine, so blending it with natural gas creates a better engine profile and more efficient engine operation and electricity production.

Another product highlight is the company’s CHP products, which function as hub replacements for resource-intensive and short-lived battery systems. “Our product, called the kinetic power pack, uses kinetic energy, so it’s always spinning,” explains Krutzfeldt. “It works with capacitors rather than batteries. During a power interruption—whether in hospitals, data centres, a semiconductor production facility, anywhere that needs uninterrupted power—this system of kinetic power that’s constantly moving the momentum of that spinning mass carries them through any power outage.”

Referred to as D-UPS—Dynamic Uninterruptible Power Supply— it’s also known as a flywheel energy storage power system or a dynamic rotary uninterruptible power supply (DRUPS). For businesses with strict performance tolerances that rely on consistent electric power, DRUPS provides a reliable backup power source.

Along with its numerous innovative products, Collicutt offers a variety of specialized services to its clientele including natural gas and diesel generator maintenance and repairs, engine and component rebuilds, and natural gas compression services. “For our fracking customers or generator customers, if they have an issue with their engine or the ancillary equipment, whether it be a generator or a frack pump, we’re there to overhaul the engine, repair, and fix, as needed,” says Krutzfeldt.

Collicutt also provides testing equipment to help customers determine if there is a problem, what is the problem, and if are there other problems that need correcting. “Once we’re done with that, we test it again to make sure it’s field ready before it goes to the field, and doesn’t fail.”

This attention to service was also evident during COVID when the company moved to a virtual enabled business. “We put a lot of effort into being able to run our business from the cloud wherever possible,” says Taylor. “Because we did that when COVID hit where a lot of businesses were negatively impacted, during this period we actually were able to grow our business because we were already enabled virtually. I think that’s a strategic benefit that Collicutt has.”

Another challenge—and a common one across many industries—is the struggle to find qualified skilled labourers, particularly in the face of looming industry retirements. In this area, “we’re trying new things all the time. We’re looking at overseas people and we look at head-hunters and recruiting firms,” says Krutzfeldt.

The company is also setting up a scholarship at the local college to entice and retain younger people to the field.

“Building on that a little bit, we’ve implemented a program in the U.S. for hiring technicians, junior or apprentice level technicians, where they get a set of tools,” says Taylor. “Typically, when somebody comes out of school and is getting into the industry, they can’t afford the thousands of dollars they have to spend on tools. We have a three-year training program, and at the end of the three-year training program, they get to keep the tools we provided so long as they’re still with us and they’ve passed all the training we’ve put them through.”

In Canada, there is also a program that brings in high school students who have shown an interest in the trade, allowing them to earn credit toward graduation, adds Krutzfeldt. “That is their entry into the trade.”

As it becomes more vital to attract younger workers into the industry, letting students know about the many benefits of not following a traditional four-year university path is important, especially for parents who may still hold onto the stigma of trades versus higher education for their children.

“You come out of high school, you register as a trade, and in four years, you’re making $40 to $50 an hour,” he says. “Plus, all of your school is paid for. I think not very many people know this. And I think students need to start learning this in high school, instead of going into debt for university and maybe not doing what they want to be doing. [Trades] can be a good alternative for some people.”

Just as not everyone is cut out for the trades, not everyone is suited for a university path either, but knowing the full range of options—along with their potential salary earnings—can make a huge difference for both students and their families when armed with all the facts.

“That needs to change because there is a big shortage of skilled workers in a lot of industries,” says Krutzfeldt. “It’s going to be scary when Baby Boomers are starting to retire… prices will go up because labor is going to be in high demand.”

Collicutt, both in Canada and the U.S., plans to continue to seek new, young employees while maintaining the company culture that is so important to its success, particularly when it comes to attitude and outlook. “We try to train our everybody in our organization to have that entrepreneurial spirit,” says Krutzfeldt. “We look for the problem and we fix that issue.”

One example of this commitment involves a customer that called for a generator repair who had been told by a competitor that the engine was past the point of fixing. “They wanted a second opinion. We took a look and found we were able to fix it for probably half of what it would cost for the customer to get a brand new unit in there,” he says. “So the customer was happy, and we’ve now gained their trust in our business. It’s about being honest; it’s not just taking the easy path of getting a new generator. Easy isn’t always the correct solution.”

This is why the company’s fracking clientele and power gen clientele keep coming back, Krutzfeldt adds. “We like repeat customers. Keep your customers happy and always be finding them good service.”

And keeping those customers satisfied has gone a long way toward making Collicutt the business it is today. “We provide solutions,” says Taylor. “We don’t sell the products, and we don’t sell widgets. We love to see what the customer needs, expand from what they’re asking for to understand what the real problem is, and provide a complete solution. I think that’s a huge differentiator for us.”

The post Powering Tomorrow Through Unrivaled Solutions Today<p class="company">Collicutt Energy</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.