04.5.1
Inputs, equipment and services
The contractors, steel shops, equipment dealers and lenders who build the plant.
04.5.2
The pattern
Steinbach Credit Union is among the ten largest in Canada, and it started here.
More than $9.1 billion in assets, run from the same region as the plants it lends to. WS Steel has been a Tier 1 OEM fabricator since 1989. Three Way Builders has built the industrial and food-grade projects around them.
A supplier that grows here grows against customers who export, which is why this layer is stronger than the population would predict.
04.5.3
Who is here
Decades of agri-food behind each one.
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01
Three Way Builders
Design-build, general contracting and project management for industrial, institutional, commercial and multi-family construction.
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02
Keystone Agrimotive
Agricultural equipment across Kubota, Wishek, Westfield, Anderson and other lines, with sales, financing, service and parts.
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03
WS Steel
Highly automated Tier 1 OEM fabricator since 1989, high volume and large-scale across agriculture and other industries.
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04
Steinbach Credit Union
One of Manitoba’s largest credit unions and among the top ten in Canada, with more than $9.1 billion in assets and a working understanding of agri-food balance sheets.
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05
Loewen Henderson Banman Legault
Full-service firm with agribusiness depth across commercial, corporate, municipal, real estate and property development law.
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06
The trades
Packaging, industrial cleaning, maintenance, freight and contractors who have already built to food grade for the companies down the road.
04.5.4
Why it is a selling point
A lender who does not understand a barn as collateral costs you a quarter.
A contractor who has never built to food grade. A lender who does not understand a barn as collateral. A lawyer learning municipal process on your dime.
This region’s service layer has been doing agri-food for decades. That is time you do not spend, and it never shows up on a comparison spreadsheet.
04.5.5
The gaps
Four openings in the supplier base.
Ask us who is currently buying each of these outside the region.
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01
Packaging
Largely trucked in.
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02
Advanced waste and byproduct management
Raised by processors here repeatedly.
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03
Specialised maintenance and automation service
Thin, and the cluster is automating.
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04
Industrial cleaning to food-safety standard
Demand runs ahead of local supply.
04.5.6
Next
If you supply this cluster, get on our list.
We make introductions constantly and the list is only useful when it is current.