Behlen Industries expands global reach with Russian contract to manufacture world’s largest convex-style steel building
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/06/2013 (4645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Behlen Industries has come a long way from its early days of building quonsets and grain bins in the area.
The company, which got its start manufacturing agricultural buildings in Brandon in 1969, is fabricating the largest convex-style steel building in the world.
“This is the largest building we’ve ever done and to our knowledge it is the largest building of its style in the world,” Behlen Industries vice-president Sean Lepper said. “It is quite an engineering feat that we’ve been able to design and manufacture through our factory.”
The building, which will be fabricated at the company’s Brandon location, is destined for Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where it will become an indoor soccer facility.
The project was commissioned by the Russian Ministry of Sport. When the building is finished, it will be 313 feet wide, 400 feet long and stand 75 feet tall.
Lepper is proud to be part of a company that is on the cutting edge of technology in its field.
“Behlen is a very positive place to be right now,” he said.
The company currently employs more than 200 workers — and is still hiring — with its head office in Brandon, where it has always been, and a satellite office in Cambridge, Ont.
With humble beginnings, Lepper said the company has made a concerted effort to expand globally over the past decade.
“It’s taken several years to get to the point where we are able to do a project of this magnitude and scale efficiently,” Lepper said. “Over a period of time, we started to develop some strong relationships and now those are starting to bear fruit, and we believe there is a lot of potential to build similar buildings in Russia.”
Today, the company exports to the United States, Russia, Algeria, Australia, Ukraine, Poland, Mongolia, South Korea, Venezuela, Morocco and South Africa, with plans of further expansion.
The ability to grow globally has lessened the effects of variability in the home market, according to Lepper.
“As we’re able to diversify ourselves geographically with our products, it takes out a lot of the ups and downs that we might see in the Canadian market,” Lepper said.
As the largest manufacturer of steel buildings in the country, Lepper said Western Canada continues to be the company’s largest purchaser, with many buildings now destined for the oil and agricultural sectors.
It’s a devotion to innovation, according to Lepper, that has pushed the company forward.
“We reinvest back in our facility, which allows us to invest in new machinery and technology, which then makes us more competitive and gets us into more markets,” Lepper said.
» ctweed@brandonsun.com