Thread protectors, borehole plugs
Plastics - the famous one word piece of career advice Dustin Hoffman received in the Oscar winning 1967 film, The Graduate, didn’t make an impression on Don Champagne at the time. It was 13 years later when a hunting buddy from Toronto showed him his factory that the opportunity sunk in.
“There were these four little machines producing plastic anti-shorts (an insulating device for electrical wiring),” recalled Champagne. “Everything was automatic and I was very impressed, so I did a Dun and Bradstreet check and discovered the guy was making $800,000 a year.
Today, Champagne’s company, North Bay Plastic Molders is a going concern with five injection molding machines spitting out drilling and blasting products such as thread protectors and plugs for the mining, mineral exploration and construction industries.
The state-of-the-art facility is located in rural Corbeil on the family farm Champagne grew up on, 15 kilometres east of North Bay.
The first few years were tough going. A government grant he was counting on got tangled up in red tape, and an order for thread protectors from a drill rod manufacturer in North Bay failed to materialize.
The company had been buying its thread protectors from Australia and agreed to give Champagne the business if he could come up with a better price.
“They told me I’d have to get the machine first, so I spent the money and got the equipment.”
Champagne acquired the equipment and quoted on the job, but didn’t hear back. When he called to follow up, he discovered that the order was given to someone else despite the fact that his price was better.
“They said they didn’t know if I was going to be in business next year.”
His first customer, another drill rod manufacturer looking for thread protectors, was the sole respondent from a promotional mailout to 600 companies. It has been clear sailing ever since.
“There are quite a few drill rod manufacturers in North Bay, and when they need something, they come and see us. They don’t have to worry about me going bankrupt.”
The brightly coloured, cone-shaped borehole plugs are used to cover drill holes to prevent ingress of loose material.
“In the old days, they used to send a guy in the bush to cut a piece of poplar and jam it in the hole, but if it froze in the winter, they had a hell of a time taking it out,” said Champagne. The plastic borehole plugs are good to minus 90 degrees and are easy to remove.
The mining industry is a key market for Champagne, but there’s no shortage of opportunities for diversification.
North Bay Plastic Molders also manufactures a range of pipefittings for geothermal systems, plastic flooring for pig farms and veterinary cages, and dust caps for pipes used in the natural gas industry.
But you have to be smart about it.
“You have to know who you’re competing against,” he noted. “I mostly aim at industrial niche products – not the big runs. It’s products that you’re not going to see in Walmart – jobs that are small enough that the Chinese aren’t interested.”
Champagne prides himself on being a solution provider and creatively designing products to address customer needs, a skill he learned growing up on the farm and working for Ontario Hydro in mechanical maintenance.
It’s easy to see why he was impressed when he first laid eyes on an injection molding machine years ago. You install the mold, program the machine and go for a coffee.
The end products come marching out one by one along a conveyor belt and drop into a cardboard box, ready for shipping. It’s totally automated.
Champagne keeps an inventory of his most popular products to maintain a steady pace of production and provide customers with prompt turnaround.
The business operates on a single shift with four employees, including Champagne and his wife, but ramps up for special orders.
One customer called him last year with an order for ten thousand 10-inch borehole plugs.
“No problem,” said Champagne. “That’ll take me three weeks. The customer said, ‘No, I need them next Friday.’”
Champagne huddled with his team, scheduled the necessary overtime and met the deadline.
Always up for a challenge, North Bay Plastic Molders is now taking advantage of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines’ Export Assistance Program for mining suppliers with the objective of finding new markets for some of the same products the company is currently manufacturing.
Plastics. Good advice after all.
