Small Business Week: Inter-Pacific Services keeps railways rolling

Just because you’re a small business, doesn’t mean you can’t compete in the big leagues, the North American railway industry, for example.

Just because you’re weathering a recession, doesn’t mean you don’t seize an opportunity when you see it.

A small company in the Maple Meadows Industrial Area does both of the above and expects to see brighter days by next spring.

“Specifically, volume has declined, not as drastically as some industries,” says Gerry Driscoll, co-owner of Inter-Pacific Services Ltd.

“We’ve had to lay a few people off. We’ve had to really watch our costs, pretty much like any business, really.”

And the lean times will endure for at least the winter, Driscoll says. Not much track maintenance work is done in Canada when the snow flies.

In the meantime, it’s always crucial to look ahead.

Despite the slowdown, the company saw a chance to pick up some high-tech equipment by buying a Port Coquitlam company this year.

That gave it possession of a water-cutting machine – a pricey tool that shoots out a mix of water and abrasive stone chips at more than the speed of sound to cut metal that can’t tolerate any heat distortion. “Cuts through a six-inch steel plate like a knife through butter,” Driscoll explains.

And while the new equipment will save time and money, it’s probably more valuable because it will allow Inter-Pacific to expand its product range.

“Even though times were tough, it was an opportunity that presented itself. Hopefully, it will give us more diversity in the products we offer our customers.”

Spring, though, should see a resurgence, as railway activity and exports improve, and when Inter-Pacific hopes to replace the four people it lost this year.

Inter-Pacific Services was formed in 1975, with co-owner Driscoll signing on in 1996.

From within its 16,000-sq.-ft. shop on Stewart Crescent, in Maple Meadows Industrial Area, the firm of 20 employees supplies the big railroads that cross Canada – CP Rail and Canadian National – that transport grain, lumber, potash and coal to a resource-hungry world.

Whether it’s replacing an axel pin or a supplying new snow plows for the front of the engines, Inter-Pacific ships its custom-made parts across the continent and can make parts and repairs quickly to keep the trains running. It’s an extensive list of about 300 products – a boom drive socket for a ballast regulator, a rail grinder, spike puller and even a special caliper to measure the width of a rail. A recent project is the development of a new line of seats that will go inside the locomotives.

While the company’s bread and butter is North America, it also sells its own products to Australia and South America, thanks to the world wide web.

Speaking of the world, Driscoll acknowledges, China is hungry for the business he operates and he accepts they may already have taken some business. But he also notes that over time, as costs increase overseas, the advantage will decrease.

Inter-Pacific also doesn’t do the volume that offshore would need and it specializes in quick turn around for a competitive advantage, he added.

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