The Madill Equipment Canada brand is back – but no longer in Nanaimo.
Three years ago, the Nanaimo-based company, which would have celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, went into receivership, forcing close to 200 employees to look for work elsewhere.
Nicholson Manufacturing, a company in Sidney, B.C., that builds log de-barkers, bought Madill’s assets from U.S.-based Modern Machinery in January and recently produced its first Madill-brand log loader, destined for a forestry company in the U.S.
“That is the first one to come off the line,” said Ron Hait, North American capital sales manager with Nicholson. “We hope to be at a production capacity of four pieces of Madill equipment by December.”
The Madill name is well-respected in the forestry industry, said Hait, and the company saw a need in the marketplace. Nicholson has been manufacturing ring de-barkers since 1948 and both companies are known for the robustness of their products, he added.
“It’s a good fit for our facility, for our company,” said Hait. “It’s also good news that [the Madill brand is] staying on Vancouver Island.”
Four former Madill employees who were working out of Nanaimo are now working for Nicholson in Sidney, he said.
The former Madill site on Labieux Road was bought by Laird Wheaton on Bowen Road about six months ago, said dealer principal Steve Laird, but the company has not decided what to do with the property yet.
“Ultimately, the building will be torn down and it will be redeveloped,” he said.
Having the brand back in play is a sign better times have arrived for the industry, said Rick Jeffery, president of Coast Forest Products Association.
“We’ve probably hit market bottom and the climb back to full recovery is going to be long and slow,” he said. “The folks that are left are the ones that were strong enough to survive it and they’re the ones who are going to drive the recovery.”
Jeffery said the industry will not fully recover until the U.S. housing market recovers, but companies have seen slow rebounds in some of these old markets and opened some new markets, such as China.
He expects activity levels to rise slowly and with activity comes demand for equipment.
Madill has a reputation for producing the best equipment on the market, said Brian Butler, first vice-president of United Steelworkers local 1-1937.
“I think things have been improving in the industry,” he said. “Obviously the fact that it’s coming back is good news.”
Employment numbers have been on the upswing in logging said Butler, and a few more jobs are appearing in the manufacturing sector of late, although nowhere close to the numbers seen before the industry started suffering a few years ago.
