business and industry Reaching beyond the borders Medicine Hat companies taking the export market by storm By ALEX MCCUAIG
The Medicine Hat area was once touted as the “Pittsburgh of the West” due to its wide array of manufacturing of different industrial, residential and agricultural products.
While the city’s long established 20th century industries like the flour mill and brickyard have ceased to operate, 21st century companies have risen to fill the gaps.
Auto-Star is one of the city’s best examples of this move, proving the axiom necessity is the mother of invention true along the way.
What began as an in-house computer inventory tracking system for automotive parts has since become a continent-wide recognized software company.
Founded in 1982, the framework of what would become a computer program used by leading medical institutions and retailers was started in Medicine Hat.
The original premise, according to founder and Hat native Hugh Arthur, was based on the need to track and predict sales to streamline product overhead and in turn reduce operating costs.
Arthur, originally an apprentice mechanic for the family-owned Honda dealership, took over developing
the software from the hired programmer.
“I thought, well, how hard can this be,” said Arthur, after the business found itself with costly hardware but no software, “so I taught myself how to program.”
Arthur highlights the fact the system pays for itself, “just by reducing your inventory and increasing your inventory turns — how many times you cycle inventory through your system.”
While the opportunity to move the company’s headquarters to a larger centre has always been an option, Arthur said when it comes to quality of life, it is hard to beat Medicine Hat.
“Medicine Hat is a great place to live,” Arthur said.
“Our cost of living, quality of life is awesome. We’ve had employees that have been with us for years.”
And it’s that staff retention which has proven valuable to the company.
“If we were in a bigger centre, employee turnover would be a bigger thing,” said Arthur.
While Auto-Star has developed the local tech sector, SHAC Environmental has engaged consumers across North America and Europe with its line of biostimulants to help clean dugouts, ponds and water treatment facilities.
The company has recently been nominated for the provincial Chamber of Commerce’s Export Award of Distinction.
Terry Ozem, SHAC general manager, said the product was developed in Medicine Hat, “and we’ve stayed here ever since.
“It’s central to Western Canada which is our biggest Canadian market for selling the products but also, the products that we use — the raw resources — the majority also come from Alberta.”
It is a company built on the concept of developing an Alberta product, utilizing Albertan resources to sell a quality product back to Albertans, said Ozem.
“Outsourcing is a double-edged sword. As a company you can possibly save some dollars on labour costs,” said Ozem.
“But where is the economy growing? It's not here, it’s
China or the Far East and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”
36 2014 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
Meggitt Canada president Spencer Fraser runs the Medicine Hat-based unmanned vehicle manufacturer which was named Canadian Defence Review’s 2013 top defence contractor in the country.
He said the proximity to federal defence research facilities at CFB Suffield is why the company has been able to establish itself for the past 30 years in the city.
“Very simply, the reason we’re here, and why there could be more people here, is due to the fantastic R and D the scientists do at (Defence Research and Development Canada) Suffield,” said Fraser.
The company sells across the free Asian market and Australia, Europe, U.S., Middle-Eastern countries.
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41148798•03/25/14
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