Finalists in the Medium Companies category–companies with $10 million to $75 million in annual revenue–included a diverse group of firms with completely different business models: auto retailer the New Pembina Chrysler Dodge Jeep, industrial manufacturer Acrylon Plastics and the City of Winnipeg’s operating agency, the Winnipeg Parking Authority. Judges selected Acrylon Plastics as the recipient of the 2010 Spirit of Winnipeg Award.

Craig McIntosh, CEO of Acrylon Plastics, shows off some of the 'cool plastic stuff' that his firm makes and exports to markets far and wide.

Plastic is everywhere around us in our daily life. Few of us ever stop to think of where plastic comes from or just how versatile it is, or to even take stock of what percentage of the items we touch are made partly or completely from plastic.

Acrylon Plastics is the winner of this year’s Spirit of Winnipeg Award in the medium-sized business category. Working exclusively in the industrial sector, Acrylon has been chosen by several manufacturers to be their primary supplier of plastics–custom plastic parts for end-use applications in buses, tractors, combines, electric cars, fencing, commercial building systems, windows and doors, and even residential play structures. And 95 per cent of their products are exported outside of Manitoba with a full 50 per cent on their way to the United States.

With only 5 per cent of its products destined for Manitoba manufacturers, it’s a business that can easily be located anywhere in North America. But compared with other cities, Winnipeg offers a few tremendous advantages. President and CEO Craig McIntosh says, “First and foremost, the process of making plastic is essentially taking PVC–which is a powder–and heating it, shaping it and letting it cool. So one of the most important resources for us is a heat source. Winnipeg offers very low-cost and reliable access to natural gas and electricity.”

His second reason for growing a business based in Winnipeg is that it has a stable tax regime and a reasonable cost of living. “Workers in Winnipeg who earn an industrial wage can still have an incredible quality of life–own a home, a boat, weekends at the lakefront. And that’s just not possible in so many cities.” What that means to a manufacturer like Acrylon is a steady and reliable workforce and the ability to plan its capacity and product delivery without fears of a labour shortage.

And McIntosh’s export focus is benefited tremendously by being a ‘contrarian’ for the transportation sector. “Most industrial traffic flows from south to north and from east to west. Winnipeg is a pinch point in the transportation industry and we’re able to offer goods on board for the return trip to south and east destinations. It means attractive freight rates for us and our customers.”

Growth at Acrylon has been steady, and much of that has been fed through increased customer demand. Acrylon has expanded its products and its geography by customer requests, and growth into specific vertical sectors of the economy has come with that. “Once we have all of a customer’s plastic needs met, we just grow with them.” The company acquired Spartech Profiles in 2009, which brought new customers as well as workers to the firm’s fold.

One of the major ways Acrylon has contributed to Winnipeg’s economy is through job creation. “Our customers have come to us with requests to make parts for them that they previously sourced from countries such as the U.S., Italy, Brazil, Belgium and Poland. So now, we make those parts here in Winnipeg,” says McIntosh. Today, Acrylon employs over 250 people at five manufacturing facilities located in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (four in Winnipeg and one in Saskatoon).

Awarded the 2009 Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Emerging Company Award, Acrylon’s plastic ‘parts’ make their way into over $10 billion in cumulative sales within their customer’s product lines, spreading a little bit of Winnipeg everywhere they go.

Runners-up
Winnipeg Parking Authority
In a city known for its obsession with parking, the Winnipeg Parking Authority (WPA) is finally getting the respect it deserves as a finalist in the Spirit of Winnipeg awards. Formed as a special operating agency of the City of Winnipeg, the WPA manages three parkades in the downtown area, 3,800 parking meters and numerous surface lots throughout the city. The WPA replaced the city’s old worn-out single-space meters with multi-space pay and display machines, created 1,400 new spaces and also introduced new and convenient ways to pay for parking, such as pay-by-cell and single-use meter coupons. And, in a far cry from “Rita the Meter Maid,” each compliance officer now has a handheld computer linked wirelessly in real-time both to a printer and to the database at the WPA. Handheld devices feature drop-down menus with standardized notes, providing a consistency in the appearance of tickets and strengthening the objectivity of the system.

New Pembina Chrysler Dodge Jeep
No one word better represents the New Pembina Chrysler Dodge Jeep than the word ‘change.’ Implementing change to secure better productivity, efficiency or reducing cost is the core of Bernie Clement’s ownership philosophy. Since he took over in 2006, he set out on an aggressive organizational and marketing redesign. In just over three years, the dealership has realized significant growth in virtually every facet of its operations. It has also proven that in the 21st century, an automobile dealership can thrive outside of an ‘auto mall.’ Clement got his start in Winnipeg and rose to vice-president of sales and service for Chrysler Canada. Not many in that role would take the risk of coming home to prove his point. Clement not only returned to his birth city, but has increased net earnings by over 500 per cent and continued at a pace well above Chrysler Canada dealer averages.