Anniversary Celebration—Port support
Breakthrough business—Ian Bourhill, President and CEO of Hillmar Industries, on the shop floor among rail clamps that will be used on dockside cranes.
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Updated: July 09, 2009 6:16 PM
A family business in Tilbury services shipping ports around the world.
For 30 years Hillmar Industries has researched and manufactured storm brakes, hydraulic power units, industrial disc brakes, cable reels and more for dockside cranes and other equipment necessary for smooth operations at seaside entry points like Deltaport.
“We do a lot of work with Deltaport,” says purchasing manager Meghan Bourhill, who adds they also supply ports in Australia, Korea, Japan, China and South America.
“They say the port industry has a minimum seven to 10 per cent growth in the forseeable future. There’s always going to be a need for it,” she says of the growing demand for their services and 30 years of success.
Hillmar’s products have other uses as well, such as enabling the roof on Safeco Field—the Seattle Mariners’ home —to open and close, Meghan Bourhill says.
Her father, CEO, president and Tsawwassen resident Ian Bourhill, started the Tilbury-based company in 1979. The mechanical engineer began Hillmar (hillmar.com) with another engineer and a salesperson, says Meghan, and the business has since grown to employ about 50 people.
Meghan says many of those employees have been with the company five years or more.
“I think people like that we’re a very employee-oriented company.”
As they look to the future, one goal is to eventually enter the wind turbine industry by supplying brakes for the turbines.
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