Canuck Industries is a Division of Fibre Laminations Ltd. founded in 1976 as a manufacturer of Fiberglass canoes and swimming pool panels. The company started in Stoney Creek in a rented 2000 sq. ft. facility. By 2002, the organization has grown to over 50 full time permanent employees working out of 2 facilities in Hamilton totalling over 36, 000 sq. ft. Over the years of growth, Fibre Laminations Ltd. has manufactured a diversified product line ranging from satellite dishes to hydroponic tanks. Currently, Canuck Industries Division of Fibre Laminations Ltd. specializes in the manufacturing of fiberglass automotive aftermarket products such as van and pickup truck running boards and is the industry leader in the manufacturing of state of the art Fiberglass composting toilets. Other current production products include roof fairings and other parts for the heavy truck industry. Our products can be found on every continent of the world.

Products/Customers

Our fiberglass automotive aftermarket accessory line includes running boards and steps for vans, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles as well as sunvisors, performance products etc. Our customers include large and small warehouse distributors across North America as well as OEM's such as General Motors.
Fibre Laminations Ltd. currently has several major product lines. Our composting toilets are an environmentally friendly product and are used in applications such as cottages where a septic system is unsuitable or uneconomical. Although our major markets are in North America we are shipping composting products across the world. All of our composting toilets are sold and marketed by Sun-Mar Corp.
Our custom and contract manufacturing division provides design, tooling and manufacturing services for customers needing fiberglass moulds and parts for their own products.

Processes

Canuck Industries, Division of Fibre Laminations Ltd. makes parts and products out of fiberglass and polyester thermoset resin using primarily a sprayup/hand layup process in open moulds. We use advanced state of the art gelcoat application equipment from Magnum Industries. Their FIT (Fluid Impingement Technology) gun is designed to apply the liquid polyester gelcoat to the moulds without the atomization inherent with standard spray equipment. The result is an operation with significantly reduced styrene emissions and an improved worker environment. We also use Magnum's FIT technology chopper guns to apply the resin and fiberglass to the moulds. The material is then worked into the moulds by hand using skilled laminators and hand tools. We also use advanced styrene suppressed resins to help meet all environmental and labour guidelines for air quality. The second phase of our operation involves trimming the parts after de-moulding. This is done by hand using air tools. The final phase of production involves inspection and packaging for the automotive products and assembly, inspection, testing and packaging for our composting toilets.

Design

Canuck Industries Division of Fibre Laminations Ltd. has a full product development department that is capable of designing composite products from concept to production. The department is headed by one of the company principals, a professional engineer with over 25 years experience in composite design. We currently utilize computer aided design techniques based on the Pro/Engineer CAD software to speed up the design process, shorten the design cycle and improve our overall accuracy. We also have in house a state of the art 5 axis CNC machining centre for precision pattern and mould making. Fibre Laminations Ltd. can design products to meet any specific requirements from fire and flame spread ratings to specific regulatory requirements such as CSA approval.

Quality Policy/QS 9000

All of us at Canuck Industries Division of Fibre Laminations Ltd. are committed to developing and producing the highest quality products. Over the years, we have developed a very good reputation in both the fiberglass/reinforced plastics industry in general as well as in our target market areas. We have been known for operating an exceptionally clean and efficient fiberglass layup facility. Our composting toilets and toilet systems have been highly acclaimed by our customers for their advanced design and functionality. Our automotive aftermarket accessories have been marketed by us under the "Canuck Industries" trademark for over 20 years. Our leading edge styling and function especially with our running boards has made us a leading manufacturer of fiberglass truck accessories in Canada. We are proud to have been selected by General Motors of Canada in 1995 as their sole supplier of fiberglass boards and by G.M. in the U.S. in 1999 as an approved supplier of running boards.

In 1997 the management of Canuck Inudustries/Fibre Laminations Ltd, with the hard efforts of all of our supervisory staff and many employees, embarked on a program of re-organizing the company to follow the ISO/QS9000 quality standards. We were certified by KPMG in March 1999 to ISO 9001/QS9000 standards, the highest levels achievable. These standards include design responsibility as well as manufacturing and customer service.

Canuck/Fibre Laminations Ltd. currently has over 50 employees working in positions ranging from factory labour to engineering design. Most of our people live in the Hamilton area and all are committed to seeing the company succeed and grow. We are equally committed to our employees and have an active training program. We also encourage and subsidize employee courses at local high schools or Colleges. We expect our number of employees to continue to grow as our product lines and sales expand.

Future Growth

All of us at Canuck Industries/Fibre Laminations Ltd. are committed to expanding and growing the company in both size and ability. One of the primary strengths of the company over the years has been in our ability to take care of all of our customer's needs from product conception and design, through development of all tooling to final manufacturing of both parts and complete products. We foresee growth in the following areas of our business:

• An expanding range of automotive products covering more vehicles as well as continued redesign of older products to keep up with vehicle styling trends.
• An increased use of CAD/CAM technology to speed up and improve the accuracy of our designs.
• Continued investment in new and improved resin application technology to increase manufacturing efficiencies and reduce our environmental impact.
• Investment in CNC machining for our trimming operation to improve our efficiency and increase the quality of our trimmed parts.
• Addition of new product lines as appropriate to our facility and process.

We are in the business of producing moulded, reinforced plastic parts and products in low to medium volumes. We excel because we have created an efficient process to design and develop the required tooling at a relatively low cost and we can manufacture the parts in a very efficient and well controlled process. We are very confident that these advantages will keep us ahead of the competition for many years to come.