MM&P Moncton keynote encourages innovation, collaboration in manufacturing

Keith Parlee, CEO at Apex Industries

The recent Metalworking Manufacturing & Production Expo (MM&P Expo, www.mmpexpo.com) Moncton, took place June 21 at Moncton Coliseum, in partnership with SPARK, New Brunswick’s metalworking association. One of the highlights of the event was the morning keynote speaker, Keith Parlee, chief executive officer at Apex Industries Inc., an important and innovative Moncton-based manufacturer.

Apex has been in business for 55 years and the profile of the company has changed quite a lot in that time. As recently as the 1990s it was a company known for heavy fabrication and things like building bridges at airports. Today, Apex has five distinct business units: aerospace components and assemblies, steel door fabrication, contract manufacturing, the distribution of architectural hardware and garage doors, and product development and automation.

Parlee addressed the challenges of manufacturing in Atlantic Canada, the trends that are affecting manufacturers across the country, and outlined how Apex is endeavouring to address those trends.

Parlee didn’t spend a lot of time on the challenges of being based in Atlantic Canada, although he did mention the challenge of shipping from and getting customers to visit the region.

“People often just aren’t aware of what companies are doing in the area,” he pointed out. The same issues can make recruiting talent a challenge also. For Parlee, this simply means that companies in the region have to work harder to make themselves stand out. It also means investing in travel to ensure that key customers across Canada, the U.S., and further afield get to appreciate what your company can deliver.

Parlee spent more time discussing the trends that every company should be paying attention to today: the changing nature of trade with the U.S.; globalization; the super-tier trend in aerospace manufacturing; and the expansion of customer expectations.

With respect to the issue of the super-tier trend in aerospace, Parlee noted that “we’re not just competing with a machine shop up the road, we are competing with a company that has bought 10-15 companies like us and have the wherewithal to use them at their disposal.” Parlee encouraged attendees to be aware of how such companies could affect their businesses.

The expansion of customer expectations is something that most shops have no doubt experienced recently. Parlee offered as an example of this Apex’s steel door business.

“We used to just ship a steel door to a contractor or end user,” he said. “Now, it is up to us to prehang the door, deliver it to an exacting schedule, possibly up to the 30th floor of a building, painted, with hardware intact. We are no longer just manufacturing the door, we are becoming a logistics company, a painting company, a service provider.”

Parlee also referenced the CME’s Industrie 2030 initiative and its call for manufacturers to become fast, flexible, and efficient. The initiative also calls on manufacturers not to shy away from customized work, and to develop collaborative business models. Parlee noted that in all of these areas’ manufacturers in Canada can do much to improve their approach. He also believes that doing so can create substantial benefits for any shop.

In essence, Parlee encouraged attendees to be aware of how the manufacturing landscape is changing and adapt as necessary. He stressed the importance of automation; how the adoption of composites may affect material choices for many projects; and how collaboration with your clients can help you build stronger relationships with your clients.

On the business side, Parlee encouraged attendees to step back from the business at least once a year and ask, “What’s going on with our customers?”, “Are we selling the right products?”, “Are we in the right market?” and other similarly broad questions. He also offered examples of innovative ways that Apex has broadened its scope by sitting down to have these types of discussions. The most impressive example is the company’s development of its own intellectual property – a production coating machine for lenses that is now being sold under the name Velocity.

The key is to never stand still, and Apex has proven that investment in innovation can pay off through expanded business opportunities.