Coniston Industrial Park - Profiles on the Park

Profiles on the Park - Scott-Woods Transport Inc. (featuring Branden Fennell, Business Development Officer)

It’s been a little over a year since Scott-Woods Transport Inc. became a tenant out at Coniston Industrial Park Limited , and I’ve been fortunate to know Adam Lachapelle MBA and Felix Lopes Jr. for several months longer still as we “courted” in nailing down this location.

Scott-Woods has been servicing Sudbury and the region for 25 years, and we weren’t strangers to Lopes Limited - in fact, we’d done work for them in the past in moving some of their large, “weirder” pieces (more on that in a bit.) So when the decision was taken to develop a truly local Sudbury presence and be closer to some of our key clients to really up the ante on service, we knew where to start looking.

What we needed from a physical and structural standpoint was easy enough – plenty of safe and secure storage in a reputable location was paramount. Major transport infrastructure was also important, so the central location right off Hwy 17, with close and easy access to Hwy 69, was also in their favour. Having cranes and support staff handy was, of course, a selling point. Accommodations for staff and drivers is close by – a number of factors were aligning nicely.

With that in mind, we arrived for the initial tour, which was hosted by Felix himself. As he explained his vision for the park, what really drew us in and confirmed our initial thoughts and impressions that CIP was a great place to start growing a local base was the employee-empowered, lifestyle and health-focused, family-feel that was immediately evident.?

In fact, it pretty much sealed the deal. At Scott-Woods Transport, we have also been on a mission to evolve the culture of the company into one that involves the employees in decision making, gives them a voice, and creates a positive and empowering workplace where they know they are valued because that’s demonstrated in the way they are treated. Truthfully, this is something that’s often been overlooked in the transport sector, and we’re changing that. Adam and I connected right away on our commitment to employee culture, and it’s been evident since that we made the right decision with CIP being a place where we can grow our culture mission in a great environment.

That said, we’re running a business! Within that context, the benefits to being in the park are clear, with numerous advantages and synergies coming from being close to key customers - having supporting manufacturing facilities on the doorstep, greater efficiencies and the reduction of travel time, etc. Our success is contingent on our customers’ success, so we support them in any way we can. CIP is truly an environment where all businesses involved can thrive and succeed together.

Let me give you a couple of concrete examples of how this works. You have both Lopes Limited and Northern Rebar on site, manufacturing items at two different ends of the spectrum. Scott-Woods Transport specializes in over-dimensional shipments. This is why I made the reference above to the “weird” stuff – big, wide, tall, heavy, oddly shaped, etc. – that where we play. And a lot of that stuff is headed for mines, so Lopes, as a manufacturer of those kinds of pieces, is a perfect fit. ?

Efficiencies and customer service? With our presence on site, our people can go right over and take a look, and assist directly by conferring and finding the best way to ship these big pieces to the customer. Some of them are monsters!

With Lopes taking care of that side of the business, you then have Northern Rebar manufacturing items that would qualify for the more regular flatbed work, which of course we also do. For Scott-Woods, this means we have access to customers that allow us to apply our full range of services, which results in hiring more drivers – most of them locally – and growing our business. ?

And what’s great is that it goes both ways. Scott-Woods travels the main corridors all the time, so if there are materials down south that any of the businesses in the park need, we’re going to be heading north anyway, right? Fortunately, we’re strategically positioned to deliver what they require, meaning we get to super-serve our customers, create efficiencies for everyone, etc. Again, our success is contingent on our customers’ success, so this ends up being a true strategic win-win.

In a nutshell, everything comes full circle through the symbiosis between Scott-Woods Transport, CIP, and the businesses in the park. Our goals are aligned. After years of doing business in Sudbury, we are positioning ourselves directly in the community, hiring more local employees, and with room at the park to expand our operation, new offices and facilities become a serious future consideration. With our ideologies aligned, the long-term outlook is that Scott-Woods Transport is happy to be involved in this family as we all grow together.

CIP is unquestionably the spot to do it.