Vicwest opens Centre of Excellence manufacturing facility in Alberta

Sept. 22, 2016 – Vicwest celebrated the grand opening of its new manufacturing facility in Acheson, Alta., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a $5,000 donation to the Alberta Food Banks. In addition to the grand opening, Vicwest is celebrating 85 years as a Canadian manufacturer of steel roofing and cladding for the residential, commercial and agriculture industries.

The centre was “designed for maximum efficiency and output in a smaller facility footprint,” said the company in a statement, adding that it features:

• Optimized floor space achieved through coil cars that load uncoiling machines and reduce the length of mills;
• Increased mill operations speed as a result of VF drives and servo controls;
• Lean principles applied to material flow from loading to shipping, enhancing overall efficiencies by reducing time and costs;
• Automated stackers at the end of mills; and
• Future automated wrapping of materials.

At 60,000 square feet, the facility has 18 full-time operators on the floor. Forty-five new jobs were created as a result of the new facility.

Vicwest said it made the return to the Greater Edmonton Area recently after two years analyzing the Canadian landscape and identifying the western Canadian territory as an “ideal location to place a new facility that could support the company’s sustainability framework.”

“We are thankful to be back in Alberta to service western Canada, a region that only continues to grow,” said Paul Lobb, president and general manager, Vicwest Building Products. “Our new Centre of Excellence was built based on advanced quality manufacturing systems, and we are proud to introduce an innovative and more sustainable facility that truly keeps future generations in mind.”

Vicwest said it has also set a target to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020, a move that supports the province’s goal to use cleaner sources of energy.