THUNDER BAY – A local business that supports the mining, forestry, and construction industries in Northern Ontario is marking a major expansion, a move its president calls a vote of confidence in the future of those industries in the region.
Itec 2000 operates from locations in Rosslyn, Thunder Bay and Manitouwadge. However, they continue to expand operations with the recent launch of their fourth location in Timmins, while simultaneously expanding its capacity here with a new, state-of-the-art shop.
The company supplies heavy equipment and parts to businesses across Northern Ontario, and offers a wide range of services, from outside mobile service and welding repairs, to rebuilds of heavy equipment and their components.
Its clients include many of the region’s biggest names in forestry, mining, and construction, like the Resolute, Domtar, Impala, and the Tom Jones Corporation, but it also provides vital local support to numerous independent contractors.
The company’s growth has been exponential since president Ray Jarvinen launched it in the year 2000, after a career as a successful logging contractor.
“Itec literally started as myself and a telephone, selling heavy equipment into Northern Ontario for forestry,” he said. “Since then we’ve been growing by leaps, especially over the last 10 years.”
The company’s success simply comes from years of steady work building a reputation in the region, he said.
“It seems like there’s been a trust that’s built up,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the size of the contractor, the business, or the community – we treat our customers fairly.”
Itec 2000 now has a team of around 50 employees, and the expansion is expected to continue as the Timmins operation scales up.
The two northern cities have a lot in common in their mix of industries and cultures, Jarvinen said, aside from an emphasis on hiring bilingual staff in Timmins, which has a substantial Francophone population (the company has French-speaking staff in Thunder Bay as well).
“We understand the importance of clear communication with customers,” he said. “It’s part of being Canadian. ”
In Rosslyn, the company is in the midst of building a new 6,400 square foot, four-bay shop, which will expand its capacity to perform work on heavy equipment.
The shop will also bring greater efficiency, boasting an overhead hoist that will allow workers to safely lift the heavy upper structures of the machines.
The company deals with equipment as large as a 75-ton excavator, and as small as three-ton mini excavators. Their product lines also offer options for forwarders, wheel loaders, material handlers, mini loaders, forklifts, and attachments.
The company’s confidence to invest in its growth is fuelled by an assessment that the region’s construction, forestry, and mining industries are on solid footing – an evaluation only strengthened by COVID-19.
“We are a firm believer that Northern Ontario is absolutely essential,” Jarvinen said. “[During the pandemic], it was proven to us that the industries we support here, especially forestry and mining, are essential – to the world economy, and to the well-being of citizens across the globe.”
“That showed us the core of these industries are here to stay.”
In particular, Jarvinen sees a bright future for Northern Ontario’s mining sector in the coming decades, in the Ring of Fire and beyond.
“As far as industries like ourselves, I’m not sure how we’ll be able to keep up,” he said.
The ongoing transition to electric vehicles means the demand for the province’s mineral wealth is unlikely to abate anytime soon.
“There has been a change in the world market to electric vehicles,” he said. “Everything is pointing towards some of the base minerals that are required for battery power being nickel and other products that are here in Northern Ontario, that the expansion of these mines is forecasted to be required for decades to come.”
Meanwhile, major infrastructure projects to twin northern highways and build power lines to northern communities are supporting demand from the construction industry.
Seeing Itec 2000 grow has been satisfying, Jarvinen said, largely because its success has been built on a strong team and a focus on giving back to the communities in which it operates.
“For myself, I feel proud of our employees and what they do for our customers,” he said. “I feel we’re respected in the community as a company. All of the people here provide the businesses in the community with honest support.”
“That’s the greatest thing to me, just the pride of being part of this. I may have started the ball rolling, but then it was the people who surrounded me and helped build the company that really created what we have now.”
