Inside The War Room
Evans Consoles is a global leader in custom control-centre solutions. It specializes in designing command centres for such things as emergency response, counterterrorism and space travel. However, last year was a difficult one for the 28-year-old company. The high Canadian dollar made exports from Canada much less cost-competitive than before; the market crash made it difficult to collect payments and secure contracts; shipping and material costs also rose significantly. With many of its products built for secure government or military installations in foreign locations, the future could have been bleak. But Evans met the challenges by building state-of-the-art, multilingual websites with a sophisticated monitoring program to identify and communicate with potential clients and linking that outreach to a series of drip marketing campaigns. Material costs were met by designing and building all of the company’s products in its Calgary-based facility and shipping through partners in foreign markets. Thanks in part to an ISO 9001-certified manufacturing facility and vast global client support network, Evans Consoles is doing fine. With a client list made up of Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and more, Evans Consoles is living proof that investing locally can have you reaping the benefits globally.
Finalists (Manufacturing – Other)
Perfect Fry Corp. – manufacturer of deep fryers and popcorn vending machines for the fast food industry, 78% exported
Supreme International Ltd. – maker of vertical feed processors for the cattle and dairy industries with sales in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Australia and Mexico
Selling Smarts
AMR Process is at the forefront of engineering and design for the oil and gas industry, providing consulting services to clients in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Six years ago, though, it was little known, staffed by one employee with few contacts in the industry in foreign markets. In order to overcome this, founder Ashley Robbins formed partnerships with companies with longer histories, using their product reference list as a basis of approval, but using the expertise of AMR’s own personnel. As an unknown firm with limited funds, AMR formed a relationship with a well-known financial institution and Export Development Canada to get invoice insurance and offer payment bonds and guarantees without compromising in-house capital. The company set up virtual offices in international locations, posted videos on YouTube and even explored using eBay and other shopping-cart software. AMR also set up a sister company in China, AMR-Ruiji Engineering, to help penetrate the Chinese market. With employee growth of 250% between 2006 and 2008, AMR Process is a shining example of how entrepreneurship and innovation can create a business even without a large capital base and enable that company to compete with foreign competitors and unlock export markets.
Finalists (Professional Services)
Macleod Dixon LLP – Law firm with unique expertise in energy, mining, finance and technology
and branch offices in Russia, Kazakhstan, Venezuela and Brazil
Associated Geosciences Ltd. – Mining engineering, geology and geophysics consulting firm
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