A Welding of the Minds: Redarc Manufacturing

Following the Opportunities

The types of jobs and industries walking through Redarc's doors have changed over time.

When the company started in 2017, oil and gas remained an obvious source of industrial work in southeast Alberta. It is still part of Redarc's customer base, but the company has increasingly found opportunities in sectors that were much less prominent when it began. That’s particularly true for emerging sectors such as Aerospace and Defence and Renewable Energy.

“The biggest surprise would be clean energy, the wind farms and the solar fields,” Ryan says. “In 2017, you didn’t really see much of that.”

Today, Redarc manufactures and installs components used during construction of renewable energy projects. The company has also completed work connected to defence and the growing remotely piloted aircraft and drone sector around Medicine Hat. They are not building the aircraft themselves. Instead, Redarc's role is often the supporting infrastructure around the technology, such as trailers used for assembly or components used during testing.

It is a good example of how established industrial capabilities can find a place within emerging industries. For Ryan, following those opportunities is simply part of running the business.

“One industry is up and another might not be there anymore,” he says. “You have to kind of keep moving and rolling with the punches.”

That uncertainty also makes long-term forecasting difficult. Redarc develops annual budgets and uses previous years to estimate sales, but industrial demand rarely arrives in a perfectly predictable line. Rather than betting everything on one sector, Redarc has built a business capable of moving between them. More than laying down a weld, that variety also changes what Redarc needs from its employees.

“One month they’re crazy, the next month they’re slow,” Ryan says. “It’s a juggling act.”

Because the shop does not specialize in producing the same component repeatedly, employees often move between very different projects. Ryan describes the people on his team as fabricators first. The distinction is important to him.

“You’re more of a fabricator than a welder when you work with Redarc,” he says.

Welding requires considerable technical skill, but fabrication adds another layer of problem-solving. Employees may start with a drawing or an idea and then have to determine how the finished product will actually come together. There is rarely only one solution.

“Fabricating is what makes you think and makes you take some pride in your work,” Ryan says. “No two people are ever going to build something the same. You give them an idea and you’re always going to come up with a different project.”

That means collaboration is built into the work. Employees rely on one another's experience, compare approaches and work through problems as they arise. For someone early in their career, Ryan believes that variety can provide valuable experience. A worker performing one highly specialized task every day may become extremely skilled at that task. In a fabrication shop, however, they are constantly being asked to apply those skills differently.

Creating a Path into the Trades

Finding skilled tradespeople can still be challenging.

When industries across Alberta are busy, local employers compete with opportunities elsewhere in the province, including higher-paying rotational work in northern Alberta. Ryan understands the attraction, particularly for younger workers. But he also sees value in building a career closer to home. For someone with a family, he adds, that time has value of its own.

“If you stay local and work local, you still can make a very good wage and you’re home every night,” he says.

Redarc has also tried to develop workers rather than relying entirely on experienced tradespeople entering the shop. Over the years, Ryan estimates the company has welcomed at least a dozen students through school-connected work and apprenticeship opportunities. Some continued into apprenticeships and some remain with the company today.

Taking on inexperienced workers requires time and supervision, particularly in an industrial environment where safety is critical. Ryan acknowledges that responsibility can make some companies hesitant to hire apprentices. Redarc sees it differently. After several years where Ryan saw interest in the trades decline, he believes that interest may be beginning to return. That is something he would like to see continue.

““We enjoy having young blood in there, we find young kids are eager to work. They’re usually hardworking, and there are some very passionate kids that are in our shop right now working for us," he says. "Trades are a very good career, a person can make a very, very good income and a significant living wage.”

Investing back into the business

There is no single major expansion announcement sitting on Redarc's horizon. Instead, growth has been more deliberate. The company continues to reinvest in equipment, technology and people as opportunities emerge. In fabrication and machining, newer equipment can mean greater accuracy, faster production and the ability to compete for different types of work.

“The better the equipment, usually the more competitive you can be,” Ryan says. “And that’s the name of the game.”

After decades working in the industry, Ryan has also learned not to put too much faith in predicting exactly what comes next. The customers may change. Industries will rise and fall. New technologies will create opportunities that did not exist a few years earlier. Redarc's approach is simpler.

“You take it week by week and day by day and keep your head down and keep grinding,” Ryan says. “That’s always worked out for our team.”

For a company built around turning raw material into something useful, there is something fitting about that philosophy: adapt to what is in front of you, solve the problem and keep building. You can find more about Redarc Manufacturing by visiting them online here:  Red Arc Manufacturing - Fabrication, Welding, Machining